Casteist slurs by teachers drove teen in UP to suicide: police

Lucknow: A 14-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh committed suicide after a teacher taunted her referring to her caste, NDTV reported citing police.

The students faced the insult when she questioned the ‘fee receipt’ she received carrying lesser amount than she had paid.

The report by NDTV, citing police source, sheds light on the suffering of the teen days after another teacher encouraged students to slap one of their classmates in Muzaffarnagar.

The student, whose name is withheld, was studying at Azimuddin Ashraf Islamia Inter College in Barabanki district, according to the report.

‘My husband died of a heart attack in 2018 and our family was then on the brink of starvation. With great difficulty, I managed to admit Ayesha and her younger sister to the school in 2022’ the student’s mother was quoted as saying.

The student paid her school fee of ₹ 1,100 on May 27 but received a receipt for amount less than she had paid.

She pointed out the mismatch to the teacher Wasfi Khatoon who had handed the receipt.

The teacher allegedly picked on her saying that despite being poor and from a lower caste she was behaving as if she were equal to upper castes.

The report added citing the police that a male teacher also joined Wasfi to continue taunt the student citing her poverty and caste in front of other students.

Unable anymore to suffer, the student hanged herself at her home on August 4 leaving behind a suicide note detailing the taunts from both the teachers.

The student’s mother said though she had approached police several times they did not register any case, adding ‘They did so recently, only after we approached the superintendent of police.’

The teachers blamed the reason for suicide on the student reportedly saying that she had taken the extreme step because something was wrong with her ‘character’, according to the report.

‘An FIR has been registered against the teachers for harassment and abetment of suicide based on the mother's complaint. We are investigating the case,’ said a police officer reportedly said.

The school's principal, Jamshed Ahmed, denied the charges against the teachers.