College principal booked for abetment of student’s suicide | Mumbai News
Navi Mumbai: The principal of a nursing college in Poyanje village, Panvel, was on Tuesday booked for abetment of a 19-year-old student’s suicide at his college hostel on June 3, after his mother lodged a police complaint. The mother alleged that her son died by suicide as he was unable to bear the harassment by the woman principal, who, for the past few months, had allegedly made “casteist remarks since he belonged to a scheduled caste”. The complainant further alleged the principal humiliated her son by calling him a drug addict. Panvel taluka police booked the principal under relevant sections for abetment of suicide, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.Gajanan Ghadge, senior inspector of Panvel taluka, said, “The accused woman principal has not been arrested yet as we are probing the allegations made by the victim’s mother. We are recording statements of other students and college staff to ascertain whether the victim was humiliated by the principal in front of others.” The student hailed from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where his mother works as a house help. The college started the BSc nursing course in Dec last year, and there were only eight students—four boys and four girls. All were in the first year and resided in the hostel. The deceased teen lived in a fourth-floor hostel room, where he allegedly died by suicide. “Initially, we registered an accidental death report (ADR) when the incident occurred on June 3. No suicide note was found in the student’s hostel room,” said a police officer.
