Girls' death sparks police probe

ucanews.com reporter, Shimla

Police filed a court complaint yesterday against a Catholic school in northern India for allegedly driving two of its students to suicide. The police action comes a week after the bodies of Nancy Thakur and Sakshi Thakur (no relation), both 11, were found near a cliff in Sanjauli in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh. “There is no doubt that the girls were under mental pressure. We are investigating the incident from every angle,” said Parveer Thakur, deputy superintendent of police. Earlier, police had said the girls appeared to have been run over by a vehicle. Police are waiting for an autopsy report and will elaborate after reviewing it, Thakur said. Principal Shyma Jose said the Grade 6 students were caught passing notes to each other during a test at the Jesus and Mary Convent school on September 24 and were found dead later that day. The notes are with police now, and I do not know the content, Jose said. She said their teacher has been suspended pending the completion of the police investigation and school authorities have demanded a judicial probe into the matter. The whole school is aggrieved and distressed. We are ready for any inquiry into it, even judicial, Jose said. The girls' parents say they were tormented by their