La Marts principal challenges abetment to suicide charge

Chief Judge, Sessions Court, Dipak Saha Roy admitted their revision application against the order of the 12th Metropolitan Judge of Bankshall Court to reframe charges after the police watered them down.

The magistrate had on November 19 ordered that the four would be tried under section 305 (abetment to suicide), section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and section 34 (common intention) of IPC.

Section 305, if proved, can invite the death sentence.

Their trial, as per the magistrate's order, was to begin before a sessions judge on December 14.

Rouvanjit had been found hanging at his residence on February 12 this year, four days after being allegedly caned by the principal for misbehaviour and disobedience.

While admitting the revision application by the teachers claiming that there was no ground to try them under section 305, the Chief Judge ordered that the matter would be heard on December 10.

Principal Sunirmal Chakravarti and the three teachers - Garnian, Partho Dutta and David Raun - had been arrested on October four for the suicide of the Class VII student, but were given bail on the same day by the chief metropolitan magistrate as all the sections of IPC they were chargesheeted under were bailable.

The case had been filed by the student's father Ajay Rawla under section 305 (abetment to suicide of a minor) of IPC, but the police had filed lesser charges under sections 323 and 324 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (punishment without grave provocation) and 23 of the Juvenile Justice (negligence of duty).

Ajay Rawla had filed a police complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani Police station here four months after the incident.