Class 7 boy, 13, dies by suicide at Pathardi hostel; case filed against teacher Subhash Ghuge

A 13-year-old boy living away from home for his studies died by suicide at a hostel in Pathardi. Before his death, the boy had complained to his father that a teacher at the hostel was harassing him repeatedly and for no reason. The incident has caused anger and shock in the education sector and has raised fear among parents about the safety of their children.

The boy was Samarth Abasaheb Kharat, 13, originally from Kavadgaon in Georai taluka of Beed district. He was a Class 7 student staying at the Hind Hostel run by Pratapkaka Dhakne in Pathardi. His younger brother, Sai, studies in Class 5 at the same hostel.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, October 21, Samarth hanged himself in a room of the hostel. The news plunged the area into mourning and the Kharat family into grief.

According to the complaint filed by the family, hostel teacher Subhash Ghuge had been subjecting Samarth to mental harassment, repeatedly and without reason, for the past few days. The complaint says Samarth himself had told his father this over the phone.

On learning of the incident, angry relatives and villagers rushed to Pathardi police station and staged a sit-in there, demanding that a stringent case be filed against the accused teacher immediately. Following the relatives' strong protest and the father's complaint, Pathardi police registered a case against teacher Subhash Ghuge.

Meanwhile, the relatives refused to allow a post-mortem examination in Pathardi. It was therefore decided to conduct the post-mortem at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

The death of a minor student has once again brought the safety of children living in hostels into focus. The issue of management ignoring children's complaints, big or small, has also resurfaced. Police are now investigating in depth what kind of harassment the teacher subjected the boy to and what direct link it has to the suicide.