Minor tribal child hangs himself in the school hostel: father alleges as murder
Rayagada, (Badal Tah): The dead body of a 5th-class student was recovered from Talana residential upgraded high school hostel in Gunupur block last Friday. The deceased student was identified as Judas Shabar (11) & belonged to Sargiasingh village adjacent to the school. His father Pradeep Sabar has allegedly brought a murder charge regarding his son’s untimely demise. School authorities found the boy hanging from a fan with a rug around his neck in the abandoned hostel premises of Talana Ashram. Putasing police inspector Bhavani Muduli reached the spot after receiving the information and started an investigation. On the other hand, Welfare Extension Officer Gangadhar Behera also reached the spot and while assessing, he expressed his concern over such a poor surrounding environment.
After the arrival of the scientific team, the dead body was recovered in the presence of the said student’s father. The dead body was taken to Gunupur sub-divisional hospital for autopsy. But no one from the school was present there. The father of the child informed that he was called by school authorities to come to school as his son was ill; but when he reached the school, he was taken aback to see his son hanging from the fan. According to him his son is a very cool guy with simple behaviour. He complained before the media that his son was murdered & then hanged by the assailants. He even refused to accept the dead body until he was briefed regarding the reasons of death and the murderers were taken to task. He directly blamed the school authorities for the whole incident as it was just not possible for such a minor boy to hang rugs on the fan & neck. He demanded a high-level inquiry and proper compensation. No response was received either from the District Education Officer(DEO) Basant Kumar Naik or the District Welfare Officer(DWO) Bharath Bhushan Biswal.
In a similar case, due to the lackadaisical attitude of school authorities, yet another minor tribal student named Mahendra Majhi of Ekalavya Model Residential School(EMRS) at Siriguda died in the hospital just within an hour or so after being admitted. His father also complained about the irresponsible behaviour of the school staff, especially the Principal, who never informed the family members about the illness of the boy. The brilliant student was hale and hearty & well-trained in sports like hockey. As the case is very sensitive and cropped up in several mass media, the Child Welfare Committee, Rayagada is investigating it. “In Rayagada it has become a recurring phenomenon & the children, especially from tribal communities, are in need of extreme care and protection. Jagannatha Saraka, who is officiating as Tribal & Law Minister, is expected to uphold rules of law as the tribal children are in peril”, said Shyam Kumar Das, an activist working towards the empowerment of tribal youths and differently-abled.
