A 16-year-old Class 10 student of a reputed central Delhi school died by suicide on Tuesday afternoon at a west Delhi metro station. The police got the call around 3 pm and found the boy in his school uniform. He was rushed to a private hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
As per a report by the Times of India, the boy went through the back gate of the school but never reached the usual pick-up point. A relative of his said, “The next we heard was that he had jumped from the metro station.”
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Investigators recovered a handwritten note from his school bag, which has become the centrepiece of the investigation. In the letter he wrote, “The school staff said so much that I had to do it… My last wish is that action be taken against them so that no other student does what I did. I am sorry, but the teachers did this to me .” He claimed he had been humiliated and “tortured” by four teachers and the principal for several months. He said in the note that his last wish was to see no student being treated the way he was and blamed the teachers. He had also apologised to his parents and older brother.
Family claims ongoing harassment
As per a report by the Hindustan Times, the boy's father, a 48-year-old businessman from Karol Bagh, told ANI that his son had been studying in the same school since Class 2 but began complaining nearly a year ago. According to him, the teachers frequently scolded the boy over “petty issues” and pressured him to perform better academically.
“Despite our insistence, the teacher continued to torture our son,” his father told ANI. The father also said his son had fainted at school on Tuesday morning but was accused of feigning it. “When he cried and said he had fainted, the teacher again said he was pretending. He couldn’t bear the humiliation,” he said. This incident was reportedly described in the note, as well.
The family had planned to shift him to another school after Class 10, but advised him to continue until the board exams because the school has discretion over 20 internal marks.
As per the Times of India report, a friend of the boy said, “He wanted to be a dancer and was very involved in the drama club to build his portfolio. But the drama teacher used to push and insult him, saying he was ‘overacting’ and shouldn’t act so much.”
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Students, parents protest; staff suspended
The news of his death sparked outrage on Wednesday outside the school, as parents and students accused the administration of not acting on complaints of teacher harassment for months. Protesters called for accountability and a full investigation.
On Thursday, the police registered a case, and four staff members were suspended, including three teachers and one headmistress. The officers said, “We have gathered information on the teachers mentioned in the FIR and will be issuing summonses for them to appear in the investigation.”
