Caught stealing classmate’s money,15-yr-old hangs self

The police said Zeenat was sitting next to her friend Monica and allegedly stole Rs 120 from her bag during the recess break. “When Monica discovered that her money was missing,she complained to her class teacher and told her she suspected Zeenat of stealing it. The teacher called Zeenat and searched her. The stolen Rs 120 were found in her pocket,” a senior police officer said.

Police officials said she was instructed to bring her mother to school the next day and sent home.

Once home,she told her mother,Amina,about the incident. Her mother also scolded her and sent her to sleep. The next day,she accompanied Zeenat to school.

“Please make her understand (that stealing is unacceptable),otherwise she will be expelled from school,” the teacher reportedly told Amina. The teacher also instructed Amina to not send Zeenat to school for the next two-three days,the police said.

Police officials said,on their way home,Amina stopped at a general store to do some shopping and sent Zeenat home. She locked herself in the house. When Amina knocked on the door sometime later there was no response and she had to break open the door with the help of her neighbours.

Zeenat was found hanging from the ceiling fan,the police said. A neighbour called the police and she was rushed to AIIMS,where she was declared dead on arrival.

A postmortem was conducted on Monday and her body was handed over to her relatives.

The police said Zeenat lived with her parents and six siblings in J-2 block of Sangam Vihar. Her father,Shahid Khan,works as a labourer in a nearby factory.

When contacted,Khan alleged the teacher had slapped and scolded Zeenat on the day she was caught. “My daughter was insulted by the class teacher. She was slapped and scolded in front of the entire class. When my wife accompanied Zeenat to school the next day,the teacher handed her a slip and said Zeenat had been suspended. My daughter was very depressed after that,” Khan told Newsline over the phone.

He said they had donated Zeenat’s eyes.

An Education Directorate official from the South Delhi zone said an inquiry has been ordered into the incident but denied the teacher had slapped the girl. The Education director has been apprised of the incident,the official said.