Growing Trend Of Suicide Attempt By Children, Duty Of Parents & Teachers To Create Conducive Circumstances: Madras HC
The Madras High Court has observed that attempt to commit suicide and succeeding in the said attempt by children is a growing trend across the country. The Court further held that parents and teachers should create a conducive circumstance for providing a better future to the children.
"Attempt to commit suicide and succeeding in the said attempt by the children are in growing trend across the country. Therefore, it is the duty of the parents as well as the teachers to ascertain the reasons and perform their respective duties as expected and create a conducive circumstances for providing better future to the children.", the bench of Justice S.M. Subramaniam observed.
The Court also observed that the role of the parents both inside the house and in society in general are pivotal and plays an important role in shaping their own children.
The Court was dealing with a writ petition filed by a mother of a 17-year-old boy who had committed suicide. She alleged that her son was tortured and harassed by the School Headmaster on account of which her son had committed suicide.
The counsel for the petitioner mainly contended that the school headmaster has committed an act of violation of the Right to Life of the son of the petitioner, who had committed suicide.
The grievance of the petitioner was that the Police had not proceeded with the investigation and that no enquiry was conducted properly.
On the other hand, the counsel for the School headmaster stated that the allegations are false and flimsy. It was further stated that in order to grab money, the petitioner has created unnecessary issues by blaming the Headmaster, who was no way connected with the suicide of the son of the petitioner.
The Counsel also stated that the deceased student was irregular in attending the class and was not interested in attending the School on regular basis.
Advocate M. Sreela appeared on behalf of the petitioner whereas Special Government Pleader S. Mythreye Chandru appeared for the Educational Department. Advocate G. Babu appeared for the School Headmaster. Government Advocate P. Rajarajeswari appeared for the State.
The Court observed the report submitted by the District Education Officer stating that the Headmaster is not responsible for commission of suicide of the student. The Chief Education Officer also found that the deceased student was irregular in attending the classes and the Headmaster used to maintain discipline inside the School.
The Court noted that whenever a case of suicide is found, the parents are not expected to blame the Teachers and Headmasters alone in the absence of any evidences.
"In a School, large number of children are studying. One teacher has to take care of number of students in a classroom. Thus, he / she may not be in a position to assess the mental health of every child attending the School. The overall monitoring may be possible and therefore, the mental health of a child must be always protected by the parents at the first instance.", the Court held.
The Court held that simply blaming the Headmasters or Teachers would result in causing dis-reputation to the Institution, which is not desirable.
The Court observed that the school headmaster was unnecessarily dragged and made to suffer without any valid reason. The Court also noted that the petitioner did not establish any acceptable reason for the purpose of considering the relief.
Therefore the Court dismissed the petition.
Cause Title- K.Kala v. The Secretary, Educational Department, Secretariat & Ors.
Click here to read/download the Order
