Kolkata: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) wants La Martiniere for Boys school principal Sunirmal Chakarvarthy and three teachers suspended pending inquiry into the Rouvanjit Rawla suicide case.
"We are likely to say that during the period of police investigation at least the principal and three teachers should be suspended otherwise it won't be a fair and impartial investigation. It will be difficult for the police to record statements of the students in the presence of the principal," said NCPCR member Ashok Agarwal.
"We will in the report say that corporal punishment was rampant in the school. The possibility of linking this humiliation to the suicide cannot be ruled out. Had this humiliation not taken place this death could have been avoided," Agarwal said about the 13-year-old student’s suicide.
Agarwal also said that West Bengal government had not been serious in banning corporal punishments in schools in the state, despite a 2001 High Court order.
"The Government of West Bengal has failed to take steps to stop corporal punishment. The Kolkata High Court in 2001 had banned corporal punishment in West Bengal. The state government has not taken any serious steps to ensure that incidents like these don't happen," he said.
However, the La Martiniere's internal investigation into Rouvanjit's suicide case has given the principal and three teachers a clean chit and concluded that caning did not lead to the student killing himself.
Rouvanjit, a student of La Martiniere, had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his home after being allegedly caned by the school principal on February 12, 2010 for indiscipline, according to a complaint lodged by his father Ajay Rawla.
Meanwhile, the BJP's youth wing members staged protests outside the school on Monday, demanding action against the principal and three teachers for allegedly driving Rouvanjit to suicide.
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