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Dalit student's suicide: Demand for action against school, teacher | |
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the pioneer
23/12/05
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| Ms Neethu, 17, who belonged to a Scheduled Caste community, was studying in Plus-Two at Sacred Hearts School, Chalakkudy. She was admitted to hospital in a critical condition on December 7 after she doused herself in kerosene and set herself on fire.
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| She died six days after she was hospitalised. It is said she took the extreme step after she was repeatedly insulted in the class by a teacher for her caste. | |
| "Neethu was a hard-working student and she had passed her first-year examination with a first class," says Gopi, Neethu's father. "She was scared of this particular teacher who abused her for anything and everything she said or did. The school authorities did not even bother to visit the hospital or come to the house after Neethu died," laments the father.
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| "Now they are making all ef forts to malign my daughter's character," says a weeping Suma, Neethu's mother. | |
| The extremely unfortunate incident is snowballing into a controversy with the relatives of the deceased alleging that police are attempting to shield the school management and the teacher who they believe are responsible for Ms Neethu's death. Neethu's father says police are behaving in such a way as to protect the school management.
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| The residents of Pullur have formed an action council demanding stringent action against the teacher and the school management who they believe are responsible for Ms Neethu's death.
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| Action council chairman Lalitha Balan told The Pioneer that police had failed to register a case against the teacher under the section that deals with atrocities against Dalits. | |
| About 300 people participated in a march that was taken out under the banner of the action council on Wednesday demanding the arrest of the teacher in question. They also submitted memoranda to the Kerala Chief Minister and the Minister for SC/ ST Welfare and urged the State Government to give solatium to the bereaved family.
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| Meanwhile, Dalit organisations in the State have taken up the matter and their agitation has caught State-wide attention. The Dalit Students Forum has demanded the arrest of the teacher in question. The Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS) took out a march demanding a proper inquiry into the incident.
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| "SC/ST students are being mentally harassed in this manner in most private management institutions in Kerala," said Dalit movement leader KK Kochu. | |
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"Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power.
It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality."
- Dr BR Ambedkar
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