Local residents had surrounded the police station and demanded action. (representative)
Two teachers have been suspended over the suicide of a 15-year-old Dalit boy at a government school in Rajasthan's Kotputli. The student, who lived in the school hostel, was found hanging in one of the classrooms. Local residents had surrounded the police station and demanded action against the school, alleging that the boy was subjected to casteist slurs.
The police have registered a case of murder and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The First Information Report, or FIR, said the boy had told his father about harassment by two teachers, but the principal and vice principal did not take action against them.
"I spoke to him about this around 8 in the evening. He said, 'Papa those two teachers are harassing me'. He was crying," the boy's father told reporters."I had promised to see to it. But the school did not take our complaint seriously," he added.
"They have three demands: Arrest the accused immediately, government job to one relative and compensation," said an officer of the local police.
"Everyone is telling their version of the story. After the postmortem report is in, we will be able to establish whether it is suicide or murder. We could not start investigation because of the protests. We will proceed further with what comes out of the investigation," he added.
The family and locals finally withdrew their protest demonstration after the police registered the case and the school promised to give compensation to the victim's family.