Tamil Nadu: Schoolgirl commits suicide after teacher humiliates her over menstrual stains

A 12-year-old schoolgirl in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district killed herself after allegedly being shouted at for staining her uniform and bench with menstrual blood. [caption id=“attachment_3846479” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] The class VII student of Joseph Matriculation School in Palayamkottai, jumped off a 25-foot building, leaving behind a note that claimed she had been tortured by her teacher, NDTV reported. According to the victim’s mother, her daughter got her period during the teacher’s lecture. Having attained puberty just two months ago, she was unprepared for the situation, reported The News Minute. After her classmates pointed out that her bench and uniform had menstrual blood on them, the victim asked her teacher for permission to go to the restroom. Instead, the teacher yelled at her before her classmates and told her to leave the room, reported India Today. The girl’s ordeal, however, was not over as she was taken to the Principal’s cabin, where she was mocked and scolded for not knowing how to handle herself during menstrual cycles and given an alleged disciplinary lecture for staining her uniform, reported Times Now. In the suicide note accessed by The News Minute, she said: “Did I ever get reported when I was in Class VI? Then why is my Class VII teacher complaining about me? What mistake have I done that they’re torturing me like this? I don’t have any option. I must die.” After her suicide, an enraged group of people including parents protested in front of the school, reported Outlook India. Police has registered a case of abetment to suicide (IPC section 306), though no arrests have been made yet, reported NDTV. However, The New Indian Express reported that as per the police, the girl committed suicide because of frequent scolding by the teacher for her poor academic performance. The report quoted Inspector Periyasamy of Palayamkottai police station who is the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case as saying, “We spoke to 11 girl students from Class VII to know more about the alleged menstruation incident. However, neither of them mentioned it. Since the victim had claimed that her teacher was torturing her, we have altered the case from suicide to abetment of suicide.” Shocking as it may be, this is not an isolated incident. In March this year , a warden of a residential government school in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district was so angered over a few blood stains left on the toilet seat, that he stripped 70 girls naked to check if they were menstruating. The warden was suspended after a massive outrage. According to an Indiaspend article, in rural India, 23 percent of girls have listed menstruation as the chief reason for dropping out of school.