Court upholds order for trial of La Mats principal, 3 teachers

Kolkata, Jan 31: A city court on Jan 31 upheld the order for trial of the principal and three other teachers of La Martiniere for Boys School on charges of abetment to suicide in the case of Rouvanjit Rawla, who killed himself allegedly after being caned at the school.

13-year-old Rouvanjit had been found hanging at his residence on Feb 12, 2010, four days after being allegedly caned by Principal Sunirmal Chakravarti for misbehaviour and disobedience.

The chief judge, city civil court, Kolkata, Dipak Saha Roy, rejected the prayer of the four teachers and upheld the order of a metropolitan judge to try them under more serious charges than those earlier framed by the police.

Claiming that the 12th Metropolitan Judge of Bankshall Court had no jurisdiction to reframe charges, the teachers had sought quashing of his order before the court of Judge Saha Roy.

The magistrate had on November 19 ordered that the four be tried under section 305 (abetment to suicide of a child), section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and section 34 (common intention) of IPC. Section 305, if proved, can invite the death sentence.

The petitioners claimed that there was no material in accusing them of abetting Rouvanjit''s suicide.

It was further claimed that the metropolitan judge had not given them any hearing before reframing the charges on a plea by the counsels of Ajay Rawla, father of Rouvanjit, who claimed that the police had watered down charges against the teachers.

Principal Sunirmal Chakravarti and the three teachers - Garnian, Partho Dutta and David Raun - had been arrested on October four, 2010 for the suicide of the Class VII student, but were given bail on the same day by the chief metropolitan magistrate as all the sections of IPC they were charged under were bailable.

The case had been filed by Ajay Rawla under section 305 (abetment to suicide of a minor) of IPC, but the police had filed lesser charges under sections 323 and 324 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (punishment without grave provocation) and 23 of the Juvenile Justice (negligence of duty).

Ajay Rawla had filed a police complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani police station here four months after the incident.

PTI