Court confirms bail of La Martiniere principal, teachers
By IANSFriday, February 4, 2011
KOLKATA - A city court Friday confirmed bail for the principal and three teachers of La Martiniere for Boys School, arrested over the suicide of Class 7 student Rouvanjit Rawla.
Chief Sessions Judge Dipak Saha Roy said: “I don’t find any reason to cancel the bail granted by the chief metropolitan magistrate’s (CMM) court. The accused are allowed to remain on bail till further orders.”
Ajay Rawla, father of Rouvanjit, had filed a complaint alleging that the accused - principal Sunirmal Chakravarty and the three teachers Lionel Judi Garnien, David Ryan and Partha Dutta - had abetted the suicide of his son.
Rawlas counsel Kalyan Banerjee, quoting the case diary, argued that there were material facts to show that the case comes under the ambit of section 305 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) - abetment of suicide of a person less than 18 years of age and punishable with death or life imprisonment or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years.
“Rouvanjit had been systematically abused, humiliated and assaulted in front of his classmates. His tragic death is a direct consequence of the physical and mental torture to which he was subjected. The question of bail therefore should be considered on the basis of section 305,” contended Banerjee.
The accuseds counsel had pleaded that the accused had never violated any bail condition and none of them had any criminal background “and there is no adverse report against them. Therefore there is no ground for cancellation of bail”.
Rouvanjit, 13, had hanged himself Feb 12 last year - days after he was allegedly caned by the principal and mentally harassed by the three teachers.
The principal and the three teachers had been arrested Oct 4 but granted bail the same day by the CMM’s court.
Rawla had then filed an appeal arguing that the four be tried for abetment of suicide.
The court will again take up the matter Feb 17.
