The Bombay high court granted anticipatory bail to the vice principal of Saraswati Vidya Mandir High School on Tuesday. A student of the school committed suicide last month after being accused of stealing sports certificates.
Justice Mridula Bhatkar granted anticipatory bail to Pradnya Nadkarni, vice principal of the school, observing that although the punishment proposed to be imposed was harsh, it was not intended to push the student to commit suicide. In case of arrest, Nadkarni has to be released against bond of Rs10,000.
Nadkarni had approached the high court after her anticipatory bail was rejected by the sessions court.
Kishore Teke, father of Dipesh, the student who committed suicide, had lodged an FIR accusing Nadkarni of abeting his son's suicide.
Dipesh Teke, who had given class IX exams, had gone to the school on April 21 to attend extra classes. It was then that Nadkarni accused him and four others of stealing certificates. She then summoned their parents and asked them to voluntarily withdraw the children and threatened to rusticate them if the parents refused to do so.
Dipesh told his father that he was not involved in the act. His father, however, asked him to draft the letter, which he said, he would sign later. Dipesh left the class around 4pm and went to Mahim station, where he jumped in front of a Dahanu-Dadar fast local. He had called his mother before committing suicide and told her that he was being harassed and was ending his life.
Satish Borulkar, counsel for Nadkarni, argued that the vice principal had reprimanded Dipesh in the presence of other teachers. When Kishore Teke was informed of the incident, he shouted at Dipesh. "The teachers asked Dipesh's mother to pacify Kishore and make Dipesh understand the seriousness of stealing," argued Borulkar.
The prosecution, on the other hand, opposed the anticipatory bail stating that the police have also recorded the statement of two other students and their parents, who had also been threatened by the vice principal. These parents were forced to "voluntarily" withdraw their children from the school after Nadkarni accused them of stealing certificates. Their statements corroborate with that of Kishore Teke, Dipesh's father, claimed prosecution.
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