A case of how hurting someone’s religious and cultural sentiments can lead to death has come to light from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district. Here, a 17-year-old Hindu girl killed herself after her teacher at Saint Xavier School insulted her in front of the whole school.
She wrote a suicide letter before hanging from the ceiling fan and named the teacher as the reason for her suicide. She said, “I am not able to digest the insult, so killing myself”.
The minor victim has been identified as Usha Kumari, a student of class 10 who studied at Saint Xavier school and a resident of the Hanumangarhi colony in Dhanbad.
Usha was upset over her insult in front of the whole class. Notably, one of her teachers identified as Sindu Mam, not only scolded Usha but also slapped her for wearing a Bindi at the school. Usha committed suicide on July 10 in her house.
The victim also left a suicide note for Tetulmari police in her school uniform. After her family members found the body and the letter they reached school carrying the girl in their hands. They staged a Dharna outside the school campus.
Organiser accessed the suicide note written by the victim girl which says, “I Usha Kumari, 17, daughter of late Vijay Bauri, resident of Hanumangarhi is going to commit suicide”.
She added, “My problem is that I am a student of Dhanbad St Xavier School, today one of my teachers insulted me in front of the whole school and throw me out. Her name is Sindhu Madam and she is solely responsible for my death. When I will die, take action against her”.
Notably, the victim’s mother, Vandana Devi in her statements to the media said, Usha went to the school on July 10 and was sent back home after insulting badly. She told Vandana everything after which Usha and her mother reached school to meet the principal. Usha was scolded for wearing Bindi in school. When they reached the campus, they too were insulted and sent back.
The SDPO Nisha Murmu told the media that, on the complaint of the victim’s mother Vandana, they have arrested the principal of the school Rajkishore Singh and Sindhu Jha.
Notably, after the arrest the victim’s family blocked the road and staged a protest, they demanded stringent punishment against the culprits.
A First Information Report (number–33/2023) was registered at the Tetulmari police station on July 10. The accused have been booked under IPC sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 34 (acts done by several people with common intention).
Organiser tried accessing the copy of the FIR but it has not been uploaded on the official website. (will update the report as soon as we have it)
The Station House Officer, Tetulmari, Ashish Kumar Yadav told Organiser that, the dead body of the deceased was sent for post-mortem to SNMMCH hospital and they have arrested the two named accused in this case.
On the other hand, teacher Sindhu told the media, “I am a primary school teacher, I take classes of students from 3 to 6, I don’t know the girl as she was in class 10. On Monday, she was sitting in the library and was also crying, I went and asked what was the matter and also scolded her for wearing a Bindi, to which she responded abruptly”.
She added, “Usha said, you have no right to tell me anything, so I took her to the principal’s office and then went to take my class. I did not slap her, the allegations are all false”.
Following the suicide, demands are coming from all sides to suspend the registration of the school. The Bhartiya Janata Party state president, Babulal Marandi from his official Twitter handle wrote, “Heartbroken to hear the news. A class 10 student studying at St. Xavier’s School in Dhanbad has committed suicide. The student had written a suicide note in her uniform. It has been revealed that the girl student had gone to school wearing a bindi, for which a teacher there had beaten and humiliated her. Hurt by this, the student ended her life. Don’t know why such schools are annoyed with eternal symbols? Honourable Chief Minister, take cognizance of this matter and write a letter to the concerned department to cancel the recognition of the school.”
Catholic schools have a history of forcing Hindu students to discard their religious practices and accept Missionary practices. There have been numerous instances of students being allowed to wear a cross locket whereas Hindus are being punished for wearing Kalawa, Tilak or any other locket or chain.
We have been reporting a lot of cases following the same pattern in the past, some of them are listed below:
Organiser reported a similar case from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, a 17-year-old Hindu girl Lavanya Muruganantham committed suicide. She was a student of Sacred Heart Girls Higher Secondary School, a recognized minority school administered by Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. Her parents alleged that the student was forced to do work by the warden after she allegedly refused to convert to Christianity.
On January 9, 2022, Lavanya consumed pesticide in an attempt to kill herself. After she was taken to a hospital, she regained consciousness but ultimately died on January 19, 2022.
After Lavanya’s death, the hostel warden was arrested by the police under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, on charges of abatement to suicide. Police have interrogated 50 people connected to Lavanya. The school have denied any wrongdoing in the case. The girl’s parents alleged that the police were not taking seriously, their complaints of their daughter being pressured to convert.
Last week Organiser reported a case from Pune where students at a catholic school were forced to recite Church prayers. At DY Patil school, students were not allowed to speak Marathi, the principal disrespected our national anthem and a list of such behaviour.
Also, Organiser reported a case from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur where a Missionary school Epifani organised a medical camp to distribute medicines and medicinal oil to people. However, they were luring innocent Hindus and Teibals to conversion in exchange for money and other perks.
Organiser reported a similar case from Madhya Pradesh’s Katni district where students were forced to offer Missionary prayers at the shelter home. On May 29, teams of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) raided a child home in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni district suspecting religious conversion. During the surprise inspection drive the team found that minors were forced to offer Christian religious prayers, barred from visiting temples and follow Hindu religious customs.
Organiser reported a similar case from Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district where children were forced to child labour apart from following Church practices and reciting Bible. During the inspection drive the MP-SCPCR found, the religion of a 19-year-old Hindu girl was changed. Her fathers’ name is Ramesh Singh Thakur (name changed, surname retained) who is a Hindu but his daughter’s name suggests she has become a Christian. Her name is Mary Linet now, as per her mark sheets.
Organiser reported a similar case from Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district where authorities at St Peter’s school, forced Hindu students to recite religious prayers and had several loopholes with the documentation. One of the MP-SCPCR members Nivedita told, at the basement of the school there were hundreds and hundreds of books relating to Missionary activities, these books are often used for religious propagation and conversion. The commission suspects that the school was also conducting illegal conversion activities apart from just providing education to the students.
Organiser reported a similar case from Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district where students at Saint Mary were forced to recite religious prayers and the inspection teams recovered liquor bottles and contraceptives from the principal’s cabin.
Before this Organiser did a ground report on a case from Madhya Pradesh’s Dindori district where students were not only forced to follow Christian religious practices, and visit Church but were also molested by the father. The boys’ students told the investigators about the physical assault and the vulnerable hostel conditions.
After the visit, Kanoongo told Organiser, “The visit opened a pandora box as the school was receiving government aid for four hostels whereas in reality they only had two. They were charging money from students, abusing them sexually, were converting them to Christianity, the condition of the hostels were vulnerable, and students were forced to have low-quality food and whatnot”.
