Hyderabad: Accused of harassment, teacher ends life in jail

Hyderabad: Within a day of being lodged at the Cherlapally central prison on charges of outraging the modesty of a woman and sexual harassment of a girl child, a 21-year-old man committed suicide by hanging himself to the ventilator with a piece of cloth at the prison on Sunday night.

He was taken to Gandhi hospital for treatment where doctors declared him brought dead.

Ramavath Chander (21), who hailed from Enemidi hamlet in Peddavoora village of Thungathurthy mandal in Nalgonda district, was working as a physical education teacher in a private school under Hayathnagar police station limits.

A case was registered against him at Hayathnagar police station, following a complaint from the mother of a 14-year-old girl child that the man has been harassing the girl sexually.

She was his student. Police registered a case against him under sections 354 of IPC and section 12 of the POCSO Act and arrested him on Saturday (March 23, 2019). The same day, he was produced in a court for judicial remand and lodged at Cherlapally central prison in the evening.

Chander was admitted as an undertrial prisoner (UT 5128) and placed in Manasa barracks on Saturday. At about 11.30 pm on Sunday, he attempted suicide with a piece of a woollen blanket from one of the toilet ventilators. “His co-prisoners noticed him attempting suicide and alerted  prison staff. He was immediately rushed to Gandhi hospital at Secunderabad in a prison ambulance for treatment, but was declared dead on examination at about 12.50 am on Monday,” said Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) B. Saidaiah.

He said that Chander, upon admission at the prison, seemed to be normal and did not show any signs of anxiety or depression. “He ate breakfast, lunch and dinner normally on Sunday,” said the DIG, adding that a case in connection with the incident was registered at Kushaiguda police station subsequently.