Arvey was dealing with prolonged bullying at school since he was in class 6th. He was sexually assaulted in the school washroom by students, said Aarti Malhotra. The school authorities did not take any action against the students who sexually assaulted Arvey.
In his suicide note, he wrote, that the school and the higher authorities killed him. He cannot live in a world full of hate. He blamed the school authorities, especially the higher authorities. The school’s academic head, Mamta Gupta, was arrested for abetment to suicide.
“This was not a suicide, this was an institutional murder of a sixteen-year-old soul,” said, Aarti Malhotra who lost her son in February this year due to prolonged bullying and sexual assault at Delhi Public School, Greater Faridabad.
Even today, bullying and sexual harassment are prevalent in schools. In 2017, the Central Board of Secondary Education (C.B.S.E.) directed all its stakeholders to take appropriate measures in curbing bullying and sexual harassment cases in schools. Still, unfortunately, the schools, mostly private schools, do nothing in this regard. Their reputation in their education business is much more crucial than student lives.
While speaking to Arvey’s mother, she told us that Arvey was dealing with mental health issues due to prolonged bullying for his sexuality and sexual harassment at school. He was not only bullied for his sexuality but was also sexually assaulted by nine students in the school washroom. Meanwhile, Ms Malhotra, who was also a teacher at the same school, approached the authorities regarding the same, but the school authorities did not take any action against the students.
Instead, they accused Arvey and Ms Malhotra of taking undue advantage of his mental health issues and causing unnecessary trouble to the school. The school threatened that if she took this matter further, the school will not admit Arvey in the next year.
According to the Humans of Bombay post, Arvey was dealing with bullying since when he was in class sixth. “The bullying started in 6th grade. Arvey would cry, ‘The boys call me a chakka.’ I was a teacher in the same school, DPS. I’d complain to the authorities but they’d say, ‘He’s a nautanki!’ I’d tell him things would get better. He tried to be ‘manly’ by playing volleyball. But it wasn’t for him. He loved art & music; that made him happy. But at every step, he was mocked for being ‘feminine’,” she said.
Ms Malhotra shared all the evidence of sexual assault, including voice notes of her son, with the police, but the police have not made any arrests nor filed a charge sheet. She accused the police of diluting the charges and intentionally delaying the investigation to give the school sufficient time to build its defence.
As per sources, Mamta Gupta is likely to be reinstated by DPS. Arvey’s mother, who was also a teacher at DPS, has been unlawfully terminated from her employment following Arvey’s death. She was a single mother and sole earner of the family. She has been trying to expedite the investigation and filing of a charge sheet for the last four months. She has only received false assurances from the police, and no action has been taken despite the evidence being shared and statements being collected. said, Aarti Malhotra.
For more than four months, she has been fighting all alone to get justice for her son.
About the writer: Vansh Pupneja is an undergraduate student of Law and Politics at the School of Law, Governance and citizenship. Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD).