Odisha Teen Dies After Consuming Poison, Family Alleges Harassment By School

The death of a 17-year-old boy, while undergoing treatment for consuming poison, has triggered an uproar with his family alleging mental harassment by his school in Odisha's Jajpur district.

Ashish Kumar Panda, a Class 12 student of a residential school, allegedly consumed poison in his home on Monday evening. He was accused of stealing a mobile phone of a hostel inmate.

He was first taken to a government hospital at Madhuban and later to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack where he died late last night.

His father filed a complaint with the Dharmasala police in connection with the incident on Tuesday.

According to the teenager's family, they received a call from the Renaissance Higher Secondary School on August 4 morning and the authorities said that Ashish stolen a mobile phone from a roommate of the hostel.

"We reached the school at about 10 am and our son appeared very stressed and pleaded he was innocent. The school authority directed us to take him home. When we asked them to show us the CCTV footage of our son's misdeed, they could not show it. We took him home on Sunday," said Banka Behari Panda, father of the teen.

Banka Behari Panda alleged that his son was mentally tortured by the school authorities.

"My son could not bear the humiliation and died by suicide," he said.

Contacted, proprietor of the Renaissance Higher Secondary School B.B Rout said the parents of the student were informed about the incident and asked to come to the school.

When the parents reached the school they were asked to take the boy to their home, he said.

Based on the complaint, police have registered a case and further investigation is underway.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)