5 min readRanchiUpdated: Jul 29, 2026 10:04 AM IST
The stillbirth of a government school teacher’s baby after a prolonged delay in the processing of her leave application has triggered allegations of bribery against officials of the education department in Jharkhand’s Palamu. While the district administration ordered an inquiry, it rejected the family’s allegations of corruption.
Bharti Pandey, a teacher at Plus Two High School, Tarhasi, who was on deputation at Kasturba Gandhi CM Excellence School, Chainpur, had applied for child care leave (CCL) on July 3.
Her husband, Mukesh Kumar Tiwari, a police officer posted in Hazaribagh, alleged that staff from the district education department demanded a bribe of nearly Rs 50,000 to process the application, forcing his wife to continue travelling in the final weeks of her pregnancy.
On July 25, she was admitted to Sona Nursing Home in Medininagar, where doctors declared that the foetus had died in the womb.
Tiwari told The Indian Express, “We applied for child care leave because my wife already has two children and maternity leave was not applicable. But instead of processing the application, they kept asking for money and making us run from one office to another.”
He alleged that the officials initially demanded Rs 30,000, but later they said “more than Rs 50,000 would be required”.
Tiwari claimed that he, along with office-bearers of the Jharkhand Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh, met Deputy Commissioner Dilip Pratap Singh Shekhawat a week earlier and informed him that officials were demanding money to sanction the leave. “The DC sir called the DEO (District Education Officer) in front of us and directed him to resolve the issue immediately. But when I again met the DEO, he told me, ‘Go and get your leave from the DC’,” Tiwari alleged.
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Severe abdominal pain
Tiwari further said his wife continued reporting for duty despite being in the last stage of pregnancy. On July 25, after another visit to the DEO office, she developed severe abdominal pain and was rushed to the hospital.
“Doctors performed an ultrasound and told us our baby had died in the womb. They said my wife had been advised to take rest since the beginning, but she was made to run. They somehow managed to save my wife, but we lost our child,” he said.
Tiwari further alleged that although his wife had sought leave from July 13, officials repeatedly asked them to submit fresh documents and forwarding letters. He alleged that child care leave was sanctioned only after he informed the DC that the couple had lost their unborn child.
“At around 7 pm, after I informed the DC about losing my child, we received the sanction order for 185 days of child care leave on WhatsApp. Had the leave been granted on time, my child would have been alive today,” he said.
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He has sought the registration of an FIR against the Palamu DEO and two clerks, alleging that their actions led to the death of his unborn child and endangered his wife’s life.
The teachers’ association has also backed the family’s allegations. “This was not an isolated case. Teachers had repeatedly complained to us about corruption in the district education office, and we had raised the issue with the DC even before this incident,” said Ajay Kumar, district president of the Jharkhand Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh.
Ajay Kumar alleged that despite the DC’s intervention, no immediate action was taken against the officials concerned. He further claimed that the DEO was being shielded because of his alleged proximity to an MP.
The district administration, however, rejected the bribery allegation.
‘Only an allegation’
Deputy Commissioner Shekhawat told The Indian Express that an inquiry conducted by the administration had not found evidence so far to support the allegation that Rs 50,000 was demanded.
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“The application submitted by the teacher was for child care leave, not maternity leave. It was initially incomplete because the mandatory affidavit had not been enclosed. The corrected documents reached the DEO office on July 20, after which the leave was sanctioned on July 25,” he said.
The Deputy Commissioner said the inquiry also found that the foetus died due to leakage of amniotic fluid and subsequent medical complications. “The allegation of bribery is, at present, only an allegation. We have not found evidence supporting it in the inquiry. Police have also been asked to examine the matter,” he said.
Shekhawat added that child care leave does not carry the same urgency in administrative processing as maternity leave and that, according to the DEO, officials were unaware that Bharti was pregnant.
Following the incident, the district administration suspended both the clerks and transferred them to Latehar and Palamu. No FIR had been registered.
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The DC said further administrative reforms in the education department were also being considered.
