Schoolgirl suicide: Police arrest principal in Bengaluru

A special team of police picked up private school principal Meera Jackson from Bengaluru by locating her mobile phone on Saturday night. She has been brought to Coimbatore and quizzed for several hours by senior police officials for not acting upon the complaint of the victim.

The All Women Police Station (AWPS) have booked Meera Jackson under section 21 (2) of (punishment for failure to report or record a case) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. Fed up with inaction from school management, the girl obtained a transfer certificate from the school citing economic reasons and got admitted in a Corporation Higher Secondary School in RS Puram.

Already, the accused teacher K Mithun Chakravarthy, 31, has been arrested for sexually assaulting the girl after inviting her to school under the pretext of special class. Police have decided to take him under custody to inquire if he had misbehaved with any other students.

The girl committed suicide by hanging on November 11 triggering a series of protests. The family members also refused to receive the body of the girl demanding action against the school principal.

Following her arrest, the parents received the body from Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital on Sunday. Police said an inquiry is underway regarding the two more persons, named by the girl in her suicide note.

Meanwhile, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji visited the grieving family members. “Awareness on the Pocso Act will be created among teachers of private schools. The government school teachers were already trained in this regard,” said Anbil Mahesh to reporters.