Teacher kills Class VII student for having crush on her daughter

A woman teacher, along with her husband and two children, was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly killing a class VII student because “the boy loved her 11-year-old daughter and she did not like it”. The body of the boy, Vinay Mahto, was found outside the teachers' quarters where Nezma Khatoon, in her late 30s, lives with her husband and two children. 

At 1.09am on Friday night, the boy was captured by CCTV camera walking out of his hostel room and going towards the teachers' hostel where the girl lives, police said. At 1.30am, another teacher found him half-dead at the main entrance of the teachers' hostel.  “The teacher was angry over Vinay's friendship with her 11-year-old daughter. Her son, a class 11 student, lured Vinay to his house on Thursday night saying that his mother was cooking something special for them,” a police official said. 

“Once Vinay reached their house, the teacher's son raised the issue of Vinay's friendship with his sister. After a heated argument, Nazia's son brutally beat up Vinay,” the official added. 

Assuming Vinay to be dead, Nezma helped her son throw him down from the first floor of the building. She also informed her husband living outside Ranchi about the incident, police added. Ranchi Police questioned seven school teachers, security guards and others in the case. Initially, the police recovered material evidence from the room of a male teacher and claimed it was a case of murder after suspected sodomy. The police, however, did not find convincing answers and corroborating evidence to pursue the sodomy angle further. 

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand high court on Wednesday issued notice to police, school and state government and sought details in the case along with the post-mortem report, Ranchi Abhibhavak Sangh (parents' association) general secretary Ajay Rai, who moved the high court on behalf of the association, said. 

The incident has shocked parents of young students, who have been minutely following the case through media reports, throughout the state. “It shows the low our society and teacher-pupil relation has reached,” father of a young girl said. The association on Wednesday also called for a shutdown in Ranchi and Khuti districts, which evoked a mixed response. Majority of schools in Ranchi remained closed. 

The association had filed a public interest litigation in the high court on Tuesday to demand a CBI probe into Vinay's death. “We have filed a PIL in the high court for a CBI probe since we are not satisfied with the police investigation. Even the boy's parents are not satisfied,” Rai said.