Kallakurichi student suicide: Tamil Nadu school reopens after 140 days

Large-scale violence had erupted in Kallakurichi after the incident. 430 people were held for arson and protest

A private school in Kallakurichi district reopened on Monday on the directions of the Madras High Court, over 140 days after it was closed due to large-scale violence by protesters in the wake of suicide by a 16-year-old girl student.

The school in Kaniyamur in the district downed its shutters in the second week of July after the girl died by suicide after jumping from the hostel building on July 12. The girl’s parents alleged that their daughter’s death raised suspicion and demanded a detailed inquiry by the police – they also knocked at the doors of the Madras High Court which ordered a re-post-mortem of the girl’s body.

However, the issue took a fresh twist on July 17 when hundreds of protesters converged at the school premises and vandalised classrooms and laboratories in protest against police “inaction” against the school management. Over 50 policemen, including DIG (Villupuram) M Pandian, were injured in the arson and violence by the protesters, pointing to intelligence failure by TN police.

Also Read | Protests over student’s suicide turn violent in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi; buses torched

The school management was on December 1 granted permission by Justice Suresh Kumar of the High Court to reopen the school after the CB-CID, which is investigating the case, gave its consent. Accordingly, the school reopened on Monday for classes 9-12 with students attending physical classes.

“We are happy that the school reopened today. Already, our children lost two years of physical class due to Covid-19 lockdown and another four months were lost due to the violence. We are now happy that our kids will go to school regularly,” a parent said, as he dropped his son at the school.

The violence sent shock waves across the state even as 430 people have been arrested so far for their alleged role in the arson based on video evidence.

The 16-year-old student, who belonged to neighbouring Cuddalore district, was staying in the school hostel, and allegedly jumped to death on July 12. However, the family alleged foul play in the death and demanded action against the school management citing the girl’s suicide note in which she has blamed two teachers for “torturing her” and the postmortem report which spoke of injury marks in her body.

The police constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) to unearth entire conspiracy behind this incident, identify all the violators who are captured very well in the video footages, the persons who formed WhatsApp groups, spread false news which resulted in such rioting situation and take action as per law.