Rawla verdict put on hold till Monday

KOLKATA: The chief judge of the city sessions court on Friday put the verdict in the Rouvanjit Rawla death case on hold till January 31.
The adjournment was announced after the four accused teachers, including principal of La Martiniere for Boys Sunirmal Chakravarthy, challenged the decision of the 12th metropolitan magistrate to send the matter to the chief judge to decide if it was a case for abetment to suicide apart from the charges of corporal punishment.Chief judge Dipak Shyamroy will pass his order on Monday.
The case relates to the suicide of Class VIII student Rouvanjit Rawla on February 12, 2010, four days after he was caned at school. The 13-year-old’s suicide shocked the city, setting off a clamour for action against the school that initially refused to even allow police to meet teachers.
Police arrested Sunirmal Chakravarthy, middle school head L G Gunion and teachers David Ryan and Partha Datta and produced them before the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on October 4. Police wanted to book them for abetting suicide but could not substantiate the charge during probe. The teachers were booked under Sections 323 and 324 of IPC that relate to ‘voluntarily causing hurt’, Section 352 IPC (use of criminal force), and Section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Act (acts of cruelty by the custodian — in this case teachers). All four were granted bail. The FIR by Rouvanjit’s father Ajay Rawla had been filed under Section 305 IPC — abetment to suicide.
Police submitted the chargesheet on November 19. The 12th metropolitan magistrate, while going through the chargesheet, held that it was a fit case for being considered under Section 305 IPC. He referred it to the chief judge under Section 323 of CrPC to ascertain whether the accused could be tried for abetting the boy’s suicide.
The accused teachers challenged this on the ground that such a grave charge cannot be incorporated in the charge-sheet after it has been submitted to the trial court. They argued that this was not possible when the prosecution did not have any fresh evidence to substantiate the charge. After this, the chief judge decided to take two days to consider the petition of the accused and pass his order on Monday.