Unnao Girl Dies After Humiliation Over Non-Payment Of School Fees, Principal Booked

The family of the girl, who was their only child, was struggling to make ends meet and had not paid her school fees as her father was out of work in the pandemic.

Unnao (Uttar Pradesh): A case has been filed in Unnao district after a 15-year-old girl died under mysterious circumstances.

The victim was allegedly humiliated by her school principal over non-payment of fees.

The girl’s father, who works at a factory, alleged that his daughter died after the school principal refused to let her pick her assignment, which was to be the medium for the assessment of students.

The family of the girl, who was their only child, was struggling to make ends meet and had not paid her school fees as her father was out of work in the pandemic.

The complaint lodged by the child’s father said: “I am a poor labourer from Unnao district. My daughter was a student of Class 10. As I was not in a sound financial condition, I could not pay the fees for three months during the Covid pandemic for her Class 9.

“I had met the principal and asked for some time to pay the pending fees. My daughter went to school on Thursday with a letter seeking a fee waiver, but she was asked to leave.

“The principal refused to give us time and said that she cannot appear for the quarterly examination. She was humiliated and asked to leave the school. She collapsed when she reached home due to mental pressure and excessive humiliation and died.”

Unnao SP Anand Kulkarni said the police will conduct a “thorough probe into the case”.

“The complaint was received on Thursday. We registered the case on her father’s complaint. We will probe if she was singled out or not. We will question students and staff members and try to find out the truth,” he said.

The principal, who has been booked for abetment, claimed that the student was given her assignment and the allegations against him are baseless.

The police are awaiting the post mortem report to confirm the cause of death.