Teachers Alone Shouldn't Be Blamed For Students Taking Extreme Step: High Court

Teachers alone should not be blamed if a student takes the extreme step to end his/her life and the parents also play an equally vital role in shaping their future, the Madras High Court observed on Thursday.

A duty is cast upon the parents to create a good environment both inside and outside the house for their children, which is of paramount importance. The teachers and headmasters may be blamed only if there is evidence to establish that they have committed any offence or violated the code of conduct issued by the School Education department.

There was a growing trend of children dying by suicide across the country now. "Therefore, it is the duty of the parents as well as the teachers to ascertain the reasons and perform their respective duties as expected and create conducive circumstances for providing a better future to the children," Justice SM Subramaniam observed.

The bench was dismissing a writ petition from K Kala seeking a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and appropriate action against the school headmaster, for the alleged suicide of her son.

According to the petitioner, she and her husband are daily wage workers and have two daughters and a son. Her son Yuvaraj (17) was studying in class 12 in the Gudalur Government Higher Secondary School.

He was harassed by the school HM, who used to cut the hair of the boys in public, tear their trousers using blade and beat and abuse them ruthlessly. On account of the continuous behaviour of the HM, her son committed suicide in August 2017, she contended.

Who is responsible for the commission of suicide by the child, is the subjective satisfaction to be established by conducting an elaborate enquiry or investigation, the judge said. Simply blaming the HMs or teachers would result in causing disreputation to the institution, which is not desirable.

In this case, both the education department and the police authorities had conducted an elaborate probe and submitted their respective reports, holding that the HM was not liable for any prosecution as he was not responsible for the commission of suicide by the boy. Thus, the HM has been unnecessarily dragged and made to suffer without any valid reason, the judge said and added that it is a fit case to impose costs on the petitioner.

But the judge refrained from doing so, considering the poor plight of the petitioner and her family.

"The petitioner has not established any acceptable reason for the purpose of considering the relief," the judge added and dismissed the petition.
 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)