'Harassed' by teachers, schoolgirls end lives

Two tenth-standard girl students of a private high school allegedly committed suicide by jumping into the Sankey Tank on Tuesday after they were reportedly punished by their teacher.

The 15-year-old girls were studying at the Mary Immaculate High School in Lakkasandra Extension near Wilson Garden. The police gave their names as Sonali, a resident of Tavarekere and Priyanka, a resident of Jayanagar. 

According to the police, the two girls, along with seven other students, were made to stand outside the classroom on Tuesday morning as they were not performing well.The teacher is alleged to have threatened them that they would be denied admission ticket for the final examinations.

The two students who were reportedly upset and felt insulted, ran away from the school. Around noon, teachers realised that Priyanka and Sonali were missing and informed their parents, who immediately rushed to the school. The search for their wards went in vain.
The police said the girls had written a one-page note, which was found in the school bag of one of the victims, alleging that their teachers Philomena Emanuel and Maria Laina were harassing them for quite some time over their below-par academic performance. The girls also sought forgiveness from their parents for taking the extreme step and wished their classmates luck for their exams, said a senior police officer. 

The two girls, according to police, took a bus to Sankey Tank from near the school. Police suspect that the girls removed their shoes, left their bags on a bench and tied their hands with the school tie before jumping into the water. Around 4 pm, a passerby noticed the bodies floating in the tank. Fire personnel and police fished out the bodies and sent them to M S Ramaiah Hospital for postmortem. The Sadashivanagar police have registered a case. School authorities were not available for comment as the incident came to light after school hours.