Chennai Student Dies By Suicide, Cops Arrest Teacher Who Had An Affair With Him

A Tamil Nadu teacher has been arrested after a minor student that she was allegedly having an affair with died by suicide, police said. The police suspect that the 17-year-old student died by suicide after the teacher ended the relationship with him.  

The teacher works at a government-aided school in Ambattur, which is just 20 kilometres from Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai. She had been teaching the boy for three years since he was in class 10. He would sometimes visit her house with other students to clarify doubts, police said.

"The teacher ended the relationship with him after she got engaged. The minor boy however wanted to continue" says Jothilakshmi, Inspector of Police, All Women Police Station, Ambattur.

The boy died by suicide a month ago, after his class 12 examinations. His mother suspected that there was some other reason behind his death. The police claims that they found photos of the teacher with the boy on his phone, which eventually led to the arrest.

"This is a rare case because the gender-neutral principle of the POCSO Act has been implemented as envisaged. We hope that this growing understanding of sexual offenses, involving young people, will continue irrespective of the gender of the perpetrator" says Vidya Reddy, Founder of TULIR, a non-profit organisation that works against child sexual offences.

"It is worrying that there is a conflation of this clear case of exploitation by an authority figure with the other cases that have been filed recently against young women, who were a year or two older than the boy with whom they were in a romantic relationship," Ms Reddy added.

"In almost all cases where couples are minors, the boy is always considered the perpetrator irrespective of age, as seen in a recent case in Tanjavur where the girl was 17 and the boy 10, respectively," she pointed out.

Earlier this week, Tamil Nadu police arrested a 20-year-old pregnant college student for allegedly marrying her minor classmate in Salem district. The teen, who was a minor when he went missing in April, was found to be living with his classmate.  The cops traced him after his parents filed a petition for him to be brought to court.

While more nuanced insight into sexual offences against young people is necessary, Ms Reddy hopes "recognizing women as possible perpetrators, not just because of technicalities in the law, will not be seen as an exception."