Student dies after fall from third floor of school, dad alleges foul play

A class 9 student fell to her death from the third floor of a school building in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria, police said on Tuesday, even as her father alleged that she had been pushed.

The incident took place at Modern City Montessori School, a co-educational institute, on Monday.

Acting on the complaint of the father that his daughter Neetu Chauhan could not have committed suicide but was pushed, the police have registered a case against unknown persons, SP of Deoria Rajiv Malhotra said.

The district administration has formed a team to check if there were any lapses in safety and security aspects of the school.

The 15-year-old girl had reportedly gone to the toilet on the third floor of the school when the incident took place. She was taken to a local hospital, which referred her to BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, 60 km from Deoria. She succumbed to her injuries on the way, the official said.

"It has emerged that the CCTVs at the school are not functioning," the SP said.

The girl's father has demanded an impartial probe into her death.

SDM Sadar (Deoria) Rakesh Singh said, "The district magistrate has formed a three-member team to probe whether the school was functioning as per norms. The team comprises a sub-divisional magistrate, district inspector of school and basic shiksha adhikari."

It may also look into whether safety and security aspects were adhered to by the school, he said.

"When we visited the school earlier in the day, there were few teachers. The principal was not there," the SDM said, adding that the team waited for sometime to meet the principal.

According to the post-mortem report, the girl suffered shock and haemorrhage due to internal injuries, the SP said.

Police said the school has remained closed since the news about the death of the student broke.

The Uttar Pradesh police has recently issued directives to schools to beef up security in the wake of the brutal killing of a seven-year-old student in Gurgaon.