Abusive teacher arrested after Class 8 girl Zaibunnisa found dead in hostel room

Mangaluru, Jan 25: A day after a 14-year-old girl student of Navodaya Minority Residential School at K R Pet in Mandya district was found hanged to death in her hostel room under suspicious circumstances, the police on Thursday (January 25) arrested one of her teachers who was accused of physically and mentally torturing her.

The victim has been identified as Zaibunnisa (Safreena), a class eight student, and daughter of Mohammed Ibrahim and Zubaida couple from Uppinangady in Dakshina Kannada district. At around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday she had contacted her mother through her friend’s mobile phone and complained against the abusive teacher, identified as Ravi.

It is learnt that Ravi had insulted, abused and thrashed Zaibunnissa in front of other students accusing her of not performing well during the rehearsal for Republic Day parade. 

In her last mobile conversation with her mother, the girl also had accused the same teacher of targeting her for past couple of months. She also had revealed that he had threatened to strip and thrash her. Before disconnecting the call, the girl had pleaded her mother to save her by getting her admitted to some other school.

An hour later, around 5:30 p.m., Zaibunnisa was found dead in her hostel room. Her friends, who noticed the lifeless body hanging from a ceiling fan, immediately informed the teachers. Ravi and other staff rushed to the spot and took Zaibunnisa to a local hospital, where the doctors declared her brought dead, and informed police.

Jurisdictional K R Pet police visited the hospital and hostel, conducted mahazar and informed the victim’s parents who rushed from Uppinangady and reached K R Pet around 2 a.m. on Thursday. According to Ravi and other teachers of the school, Zaibunnisa committed suicide. However, her family members and some of the organizations have expressed suspicion that Ravi might have murdered her.

There are more than a hundred inmates in the hostel. During inquiry, many of them reportedly told the police that Ravi used to torture Zaibunnisa indeed. Later, the police shifted the dead body to MMC&RI Mortuary in Mysuru. 

The aggrieved parents and relatives of the victim staged a protest in front of the mortuary demanding justice. Members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) too joined them and demanded immediate arrest of Ravi and a suitable compensation to the family.

As per the demand of the family members, the post-mortem was conducted at KR Hospital in Mysuru. Ravi was later arrested by the police on charge of abetment to suicide. Mandya Superintendent of Police G Radhika also visited the spot. K R Pet Police are investigating the case.