Ayodhya: student dead; FIR names principal, teacher

“We received information that a girl fell from the terrace of the school building around 9.30 am on Friday. We were told that the school administration got her admitted to a hospital and informed her parents. During the treatment, the girl died…  We have registered an FIR based on the complaint filed by the girl’s family. We are going through the CCTV footage and call records. The case is being investigated on priority. We are questioning the staff members of the school, and those named in the FIR,” Additional Superintendent of Police (Ayodhya City) Madhuvan Kumar Singh told The Sunday Express.

The FIR has been registered under IPC sections 376-D (gangrape), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), and under sections of the POCSO Act — The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

Besides the woman school principal, two staff members, including the games teacher, have been named in the FIR, the police said.  According to the SHO of the local police station, the post-mortem report did not confirm rape. “As per the post-mortem report, the girl suffered four to five injuries, including head and femur bone. All the injuries seem to be related to the fall,” the SHO said.

“We have made a list of more than 30-35 people for questioning. All those who work at the school are being questioned,” the SHO added.

In the complaint with the police, the girl’s father alleged that the principal called his daughter to the school on Friday, a holiday, “as part of a conspiracy”. “Two teachers who were present there raped my daughter and then to hide the incident threw her from the terrace of the school building. She was badly injured and died during treatment,” the complaint read.

The girl’s uncle said, “The school told us that she fell from a swing. The swing is one foot high or more. Our girl is quite tall… She could not have been badly injured after falling from a swing. The school principal told us that she fell from the swing, but in the video footage, it can be seen that she was thrown from the terrace. They cleaned the whole place.”