A 19-year-old class 12 student from Jharkhand’s Garhwa district, who had been in a coma for nearly a month after allegedly being assaulted by her school principal for wearing slippers instead of shoes, died on Tuesday morning.
The student, Divya Gupta, was reportedly beaten for violating the school dress code.
Her family has accused the principal of physical and mental torture and demanded that she be booked for murder. Officials confirmed that the principal has been suspended and an inquiry has been ordered.
According to Divya’s uncle, Sanjay Prasad, the incident had taken place on September 15. He said that she had been beaten with hands and sticks all over her body, and that they had initially thought she would recover, but her condition had kept worsening.
After the assault, the family had taken Divya to a private hospital in Daltonganj and later to several doctors before she was eventually referred to RIMS in Ranchi. Her uncle said that she had gone into a coma around September 26 and had never regained consciousness.
Divya passed away on Tuesday after weeks of treatment. Prasad added that she had been mentally and physically tortured, that the pain in her head and spine had been unbearable, and that she had kept crying in pain for days before slipping into a coma.
A postmortem had been conducted at Garhwa Sadar Hospital on Wednesday. The family said that Divya had been healthy before the incident, and her uncle mentioned that she had never had to take any medicine in her life.
The family has demanded that the principal be dismissed and arrested. Prasad said that it was not just negligence but murder, adding that the principal should be terminated and given the harshest punishment. He also claimed that another student had been beaten the same day, resulting in a fractured finger.
Garhwa District Education Officer Quisa Raza said that an investigation was underway. She added that she had immediately removed the principal from her post and transferred her to another school, and that a four-member inquiry committee had been constituted. Raza stated that if the charges were found to be true, strict departmental action would be taken.
Divya’s parents, Anjay Prasad and Anjita Gupta, were reported to be in deep shock. Prasad said that her mother kept fainting repeatedly.