High Court posts teachers' bail plea to Friday

Kollam: The High Court has posted for Friday the anticipatory bail plea moved by the teachers, accused in the suicide of Gauri Neha, 15, at Trinity Lyceum a fortnight ago.

The police has apprised the HC of the need to get the teachers in custody for collecting evidence. The two teachers, Sindhu Paul and Crescence Navis, have been booked under IPC sections 511, 305, 34, including abetment of suicide. The school management has suspended them pending inquiry.

Tenth standard student Gauri, daughter of Prasannan, Makkatt Kizhakkathil, Kannimelcheri in Sakthikulangara, who jumped from the second floor terrace of the primary block of the school, succumbed to injuries at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on November 23.

The charges of abetment of suicide would stand, the prosecution has pointed out, as against the argument by the counsel of the accused that a trivial issue among students had led to the suicide. Police cite CCTV visuals to substantiate their charges against the teachers.

Sources close to the victim's parents told DC that they suspected the police had let the teachers remain in hiding till they got anticipatory bail from  HC.

There are also complaints against the police for not probing the "mysterious" child protection council activist, who misguided the father, forcing him to transfer his daughter in a critical condition from Benziger hospital.

Neurosurgeon S. Jayakumaran, who attended on Gauri at Benziger hospital, had said the parents were misguided by an anonymous "child protection council activist", which claimed her life.

Meanwhile, the school was returning to normality. All classes have resumed following PTA representatives' meeting with the district collector, Dr S. Karthikeyan. The PTA meeting held prior to the meeting empathized with the victim family but the father's "wild charges" drew little support. The PTA was also sore over one-sided reports on the tragic death.