Plea seeking to relive from suicide case of student dismissed

A court here today dismissed petitions by four lecturers of a women's college praying to relieve them from a case relating to a college student's suicide after they allegedly stripped her to search for money lost in the classroom in 2011.
Mahila Court Judge Meena Satheesh said the court found some prima facie case made out to frame charge against them and dismissed the petitions by the lecturers.
K Divya, a third year degree student of the Dr MGR Janaki Arts and Science College for Women here, committed suicide in her house in February, 2011, after lecturers S Jayalakshmi, S Sudha, S Selvi and D Vijayalaksmi, allegedly humiliated her and conducted a search on her following a complaint from a student that she lost Rs 4,000 in the classroom.

The lecturers suspected the involvement of Divya and conducted the search on her. However, the money was not found. Humiliated over the incident, she committed suicide in her house. She had also left a suicide note.
On a complaint from the mother of Sudha, police had registered case and arrested the lecturers under section 306 of IPC (abetment of the suicide).
The lecturers contended in the Mahila Court that the charge sheet, which was filed in the court recently, does not disclose a prima facie case against them and claimed there was no ground to frame charge against them for abetment of suicide.

Public Prosecutor Gowri Asokan said the investigation officer had collected statements from 161 students, which shows that lecturers had harassed the student and the suicide note clearly connects involvement of the petitioners in the offence.