School action for`friendship’ with boy drives girl to suicide

Horror struck residents of the upscale Salarpuria Greenage apartments on Hosur Road in Bommana halli when a 15-year-old girl plunged to her death from the French windows of her 10th floor home on Monday. To make matters worse, though the incident took place around 3pm, the body was reportedly untouched for over 30 minutes as apartment security refused to allow anyone near the girl.

The police were informed and an ambulance was called after a delay of 45 minutes, according to some residents, and the girl was then rushed to Narayana Hrudayalaya, where her father, Dr Bijoy Kumar Mahala, is a reputed cardiologist.

However, she was declared brought dead and the body was then shifted to St John’s hospital for the post-mortem.

The victim, identified as Monali Mahala, is said to be a student of National Public School in HSR Layout.The family are natives of Orissa, and Monali was her parents’ only child.Her mother is a manager with a nationalised bank.

Sources said she took the extreme step following a heated argument with her mother after she was allegedly suspended from school over her friendship with a boy student.

“Monali had been warned once before by school officials for pursuing a friendship with a boy in her class who also happens to live in her apartments.

However, the two continued being friends and, on Monday, the principal saw the two of them together and threatened to suspend them,” recalled Appaiah Suresh, who stays on the 13th floor of Alpine block, where the Mahala family too lives.Suresh said soon after the principal spotted Monali with the boy, her mother got a call from the school asking her to pick Monali up immediately because she had been suspended for a day and half.

“The girl’s mother brought her back home by 3pm, and advised her to concentrate on her studies. The two had an argument, and a distressed Monali ran into the master bedroom, locking it from the inside.She then opened the French windows and leapt to her death,” Suresh added.

Soon after Dr Bijoy received word of the suicide, he rushed home and frantically insisted his daughter be taken to Narayana Hrudayalaya nearby to check for any chances of survival. However, the girl was declared brought dead, and the police then issued instructions for her body to be shifted to St John’s hospital for the autopsy, where it reached by 7.15 pm.

Dr Bijoy was accompanied to the mortuary by relatives and a few authorities from Salarpuria Greenage apartments, but his wife is said to have stayed home. This correspondent attempted to talk to the father, but he said he was not in the frame of mind to speak.

“There was no death note left by the girl. Prima facie evidence does not suggest foul play as it appears to be a clear case of suicide triggered by her suspension from school and the squabble with her mother. So far, we have only registered a case of unnatural death as there has been no complaint against the school or anyone else. We are yet to talk to the girl’s parents in detail as they were very upset,” said a senior police officer. When contacted, deputy commissioner of police (South East), Dr Rohini Katoch Sepat, told Mirror, “The victim is a minor who was studying in the tenth standard. She is said to have got upset when her mother questioned her for getting into trouble at school and took the extreme step around 3 pm. We have registered a case of suicide and are investigating.”

The chairman and founder principal of National Public School, Dr K P Gopalakrishna, remained unavailable for comment as his mobile phone was switched off.