GUWAHATI: A Class VI boy was found hanging at a school in Arunachal Pradesh. The incident occurred at the Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya in Sher area of Papum Pare district on Friday evening.
The police said the report of autopsy revealed suicide. Three people, all of them employees of the school, were arrested for allegedly abetting the minor’s suicide. Two minors were also “apprehended”.
“The Class VI boy apparently hanged himself to death. As per enquiry, there was an altercation in the afternoon with two boys and later, he was found to be hanging. The post-mortem indicates prima facie death due to asphyxia,” Papum Pare Superintendent of Police Jimmy Chiram told this newspaper.
He said three staffs of the school were arrested and two boys apprehended and they were being produced in the court and Juvenile Justice Board respectively.
The police registered a case under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 323/34 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt/a crime committed by several persons with common intention) of IPC and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act (punishment for cruelty to child).
It was learnt the incident that day occurred at the end of the school’s games and sports period. Some students, which included the deceased, had reportedly picked up a fight for reasons not known. After the brawl, the boy was reported missing until he was found hanging near the hostel’s bathroom after about half an hour by two students. They then reported the matter to their teachers.
Meanwhile, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of Papum Pare has demanded an impartial probe into the incident. CWC members from Papum Pare and state capital Itanagar visited the school on Saturday and recorded the statements of teachers, students and others.
Last year, the school was in the news following an alleged incident of sodomy. Some students of lower classes were allegedly sodomized by their seniors. The same year, the school authorities had rusticated 60 students of Classes IX and X for vandalizing school and hostel property.
The CWC members urged the school authorities to install CCTV cameras on the school premises and periodically organize counselling programmes for the students.
Kani Nada Maling, who is the general secretary of Arunachal Pradesh Women’s Welfare Society, also visited the school. She said she found most of the students to be scared so much that they were ready suffer but not report any wrongdoing to school authorities.