Cruelty at home drove student to suicide: Police
Parents under scanner as police register case against them
The death of 10-year-old Ajay Pramod Jadhav, who immolated himself at his school in Bijapur on November 28, has taken a new turn with the Maharashtra police stating that the boy had ended his life because of cruelty at home.
Ajay died at a hospital in Sholapur, Maharashtra, and the jurisdictional Jail Road police there have registered a case of unnatural death.
The Bijpaur Superintendent of Police Ajay Hilori, in a statement released on Tuesday, said that his Sholapur counterpart had informed him that the boy had taken the extreme step because of “some kind of domestic cruelty.”
In a statement given to the Sholapur tahsildar, Ajay had reportedly said that he attempted suicide, fearing punishment and because he had been beaten up and reprimanded by his mother for being unwilling to go to school on November 28.
Ajay’s statement was reportedly confirmed by his father Pramod Jadhav.
Case registered
Ajay’s parents are now facing increased scrutiny as the police have registered a case against them. The Bijapur police, however, failed to register a case with regard to the suicide reportedly on the grounds that no complaint was lodged on that count.
Irregularities
The incident has also exposed irregularities in the operations of the Food and Civil Supplies department.
Ajay had purchased kerosene from a retail grocery shop near his house.
The “blue” kerosene, which he had obtained, is meant exclusively for distribution to families below the poverty line (BPL) through fair price shops.
The availability of such kerosene for sale in a grocery shop shows that kerosene meant for distribution to the BPL card holders is being illegally sold to retail shops.
Beneficiaries are thus being denied their share of kerosene.
Panel report
Dr Vanita Torvi, a member of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, revealed that a report will be submitted to the government over the issue, after the inquiry is concluded. The commission had taken up a suo motu case.
