The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Row over ‘body search’ of schoolgirl

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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Row over ‘body search’ of schoolgirl

Staff Reporter

School Principal terms media reports baseless

Student attempted to commit suicide the same day
Women’s panel to record student’s statement

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ‘body search’ allegedly conducted on a Plus Two girl student of St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Vettukadu, by lady teachers who were looking for a concealed mobile phone has turned controversial with the girl attempting suicide on June 30.

The girl who had been admitted to the Medical College Hospital was on Friday shifted to the intensive care unit. Chairperson of the Kerala Women’s Commission D. Sreedevi said the Commission would record her statement and take suitable action.

Sub-Inspector of police at the Valiathura police station Suresh Kumar who met the girl on Thursday evening to record her statement said the student, while pointing out that teachers had conducted a body search, did not clearly say whether they had asked her to remove her clothes as part of the search.

“We could not complete the process of taking down the statement as the girl developed breathing problems after speaking for a few moments,” the police officer said.

According to the police, the chain of incidents that led to the girl attempting suicide began on the morning of June 30 when a student of the school informed Principal J. Roslin that he had seen a couple of girls of the Plus Two classes speaking on a mobile phone inside the school campus.

The school Principal told The Hindu here on Friday that “at no point did the teachers ask them to remove their clothes nor did any male teacher enter the class as was reported in a section of the media.”

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