14-Year-Old Dalit Boy Dies by Suicide in MP, Parents Allege Casteism by Teacher ( The Quint )

14-year-old Dalit boy, Amit Prajapati killed self on 1 January in MP's Sidhi alleging his teacher of harassment.

Amit studied in class 8 of the residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Churhat in the Sidhi district. He left a note accusing his teacher Ajit Pandey of harassing him and abusing his parents.
Photo altered by Chetan Bhakuni/The Quint

(Trigger WarningMentions of suicide. If you feel suicidal or know someone in distress, please reach out to them with kindness and call these numbers of local emergency services, helplines, and mental health NGOs.)

“His teacher Ajit Pandey abused him and hurled casteist slurs at him. He said that you belong to the Kumhar community, SC community, you have no right to study,” said Alha Prajapati, father of the 14-year-old Dalit boy Amit Prajapati, who died by suicide on the night of Sunday, 1 January in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district.

Amit studied in class 8 of the residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Churhat in the Sidhi district. He left a note accusing his teacher Ajit Pandey of harassing him and abusing his parents.

The incident happened in Padkhuri area under Rampur Naikin police station limits of the Sidhi district.

Abuses Pushed Amit to Take the Drastic Step, Claim Parents

Amit had scored 98 percent marks in his entrance exams to the Navodaya Vidyalaya in 2020 and he was also good in sports, his parents said.

“He was as good in sports as he was in studies. Recently, he won trophies in basketball. The school’s principal extended her help but what would I need help with, now that my Amit is no more,”
Alha lamented.

Amit and his team had recently won Basketball tournament held in Katni district. His parents say he was very talented.

(Photo: Alha Prajapati/The Quint)

Alha Prajapati, who works in a brick kiln in the Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, alleged that Ajit Pandey was constantly harassing his child and pushed him to death.

“When Amit had come home in December on a three-day leave to attend a relative’s wedding, he had told me about his teacher Ajit Pandey harassing him. So I talked to his teacher but he told us that he only scolded Amit for his good. But about a fortnight later, on 22 December, the same teacher dropped Amit off at our home at around 12 am in the night saying that Amit was involved in some bad activities and that he was mentally disturbed,”
said Alha Prajapati while controlling himself from bursting into tears.
This story was originally published in thequint.com . Read the full story here

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