Day after Class-12 student found hanging in school, family protests
Alleges foul play at school; postmortem report awaited
AMRITSAR: A day after a Class-12 student Simran Kaur, 17, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her classroom, her family and neighbours held a protest outside Jagat Jyoti Senior Secondary School at Rani Ka Bagh here on Saturday, alleging foul play.
The family, including mother Manjinder Kaur, 47, and elder sister Gurpreet Kaur, 22, said Simran couldn’t have taken such a drastic step.
“We don’t trust the school authorities. If she hung herself, why did they bring down the body? The family and police should have been called before the body was touched. We saw her dupatta, it wasn’t crushed. There is no dent in the fan either,” Simran’s uncle Hardeep Singh said. He demanded a case be registered against school director Mukesh Puri.
Police said Simran was found hanging by Veena, a school attendant, who raised the alarm. Puri said she was still breathing when she was brought down and rushed to hospital.
He said there are CCTV cameras in the school and the recording has been handed over to the police. “The recording shows Simran coming out of her classroom along with other students once the classes got over. She is then seen standing at the reception with her bag. She spoke to someone in a nearby cabin and went back upstairs,” he said. “Our intention was only to save her life so we rushed her to hospital without waiting for anyone,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Puri refused to meet Simran’s uncles Gurpreet Singh and Hardeep Singh, which led them to hold a protest.
Simran’s mother Manjinder and sister Gurpreet were allowed to meet the director but they were inconsolable. They kept saying that Simran was a good student and a cheerful girl and there was no reason for her to take her life. “We want justice. They are hiding the truth,” Gurpreet said.
Station house officer Sushil Kumar said the post-mortem report is awaited and investigation on.
“The girl’s relatives have demanded that their family doctor is coming from Nigeria and should be present when the postmortem is done,” he said.
“We have recorded the school attendant’s statement and are seeing the footage. The family’s reaction is understandable in such circumstances but the school authorities also tried to save the girl’s life. Taking a photo or gathering evidence does not come to mind at such a time,” he said.The school had declared a holiday on Saturday after Simran’s death.