Hyderabad: Two 15-year-old Class 10 girl students who were reportedly sexually harassed by their juniors died by suicide at the Government Girls High School Hostel in Reddywada of Bhuvanagiri, about 50 kilometres from here, the police said on Sunday.
The bodies of the two girls, dressed in their school uniform, were found at about 8.30 pm in their room. They had been reportedly upset since the afternoon, after being harassed by their juniors.
One of the victims was a student of the school for long, while the other victim had joined recently. Their parents had left farming after suffering losses and were working with a private company.
Bhuvanigiri inspector K. Suresh Kumar said that the victims had complained to the teacher of harassment by their juniors, following which hostel warden J. Shailaja counselled both the groups — she allegedly told the victims to “mend their ways” — and sent them to their rooms.
On Saturday, the victims went to the school, situated on the same premises, and returned at 2.30 pm, but the harassment reportedly continued in the hostel.
The victims did not attend their tuition classes, which run from 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm, at the hostel. “When the tuition teacher, Bhuvaneshwari, went to their room to inquire, they told her that they would join the other students for dinner,” a police source said.
When the victims did not turn up by 8.30 pm, their classmates went to check on them, only to find their bodies. The hostel officials were informed and the police called.
The father of one of the victims said that the school failed to inform him and he got to know about the deaths from an acquaintance who works as an autorickshaw driver for the school.
“At 10 pm, I received a call from autorickshaw driver Anjaneyulu that my daughter and her friend had died by suicide. I informed the father of the other student and rushed to the police station where we told that their bodies had been shifted to area government hospital morgue,” the father said.
Anjaneyulu was known no the family was present at the area hospital when the doctor declared them dead.
A suicide note recovered from the girls’ room read: “Everyone.. sorry for leaving.. Even if we have done nothing wrong, we can't take those words... No one believed us except our Shailaja madam. We are leaving without being able to tell anyone about our pain, Bury us both at the same place. (sic)”
Police are questioning warden Shailaja and tuition teacher Bhuvaneshwari.
District education officer (DEO) P. Narayan Reddy said that the two girls may have committed suicide following a quarrel with other students.
After a post-mortem examination, the bodies were handed over to the families. They were buried beside each other, as per their wish stated in the suicide note.
Police registered a case of death under suspicious circumstances and began an investigation, speaking to the victims’ friends, teachers, parents and hostel management, individually.
