
MALKANGIRI: Denied permission to go home, a 14-year-old tribal student of a residential school in Malkangiri reportedly ended his life by hanging from a tree outside the school campus on Monday night.
The deceased was a Class-IX student of Gompakonda (SSD) High School at Kalimela in the district.
District welfare officer A Srinivas Achary said after immersion of the idol of Goddess Saraswati and merry-making, the student returned to school hostel in the evening and spoke to his father over phone. Subsequently, he sought permission to go to his home at Kambeda village in Korukonda block citing illness of his sister. However, the teachers told him to go home the next morning as no vehicle was available to Kambeda after sundown.
Later in the night, the student left his room on the pretext of taking dinner on the ground floor of the hostel and escaped through a hole in the school boundary wall. He reportedly hanged himself from a tree with a towel outside the campus.
Unable to find him in the dining hall, other students launched a search and spotted his hanging body at around 10 pm, said Achary adding, he was informed about the incident by the school headmistress at 11.30 pm.
IIC of Kalimela police station Chandrakant Tandi said no complaint has been lodged by the deceased student’s family. The school authorities informed police about the incident.
Police along with a scientific team from Koraput visited the school and conducted an inquest in presence of the executive magistrate. Prima facie, it appears the student took died by suicide, Tandi added.
On the other hand, locals and guardians blamed the school authorities for the student’s death. “Why are the hostel inmates allowed to keep mobile phones with them? Besides, how could the authorities not know about the escape of the student through a hole in the boundary wall? Their negligence led to the boy’s tragic death,” they claimed.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)