New Delhi:
Before the release of the CCTV footage, Amaira’s parents say they had only questions. Months after the death of their nine-year-old daughter, they say they now have a sequence of images that, in their view, reveals her final hours at school but still does not give the answers they have been seeking.
Speaking to NDTV, the Jaipur couple described the latest footage as a minute-by-minute account of what they believe was an episode of bullying, repeated appeals for help, and a series of missed opportunities from the school administration to intervene before Amaira, a Class 4 student at Neerja Modi School, fell from the fourth floor of the campus on November 1 last year.
“The boy who was sitting in front of her is showing something to her on a digital slate. First of all, I would like to tell that digital slates are not allowed in this school. I really don’t know why the teacher has allowed this. Once this child started the bullying, the other boys also ganged up. They also started showing something to Amaira on that particular slate. She seems to be confused. She seems to be harassed and then she was giving the distress signal,” Amaira’s mother Shivani told NDTV’s Shiv Aroor.
The footage itself does not reveal what was displayed on the slate. Shivani says neither the family nor investigators have been able to determine exactly what Amaira saw. But she believes her daughter’s reactions indicate that whatever was shown deeply disturbed her.
“She was putting her both the hands on her head and covering her ears with her hands. Then finally at 11.55 pm she goes to her teacher.,” she added.
Their account comes as fresh CCTV footage has renewed scrutiny over the circumstances leading to the girl’s death. The family says the footage shows a child who arrived at school cheerful and energetic, but whose demeanour changed dramatically over the course of less than an hour. The school has previously denied wrongdoing, while the matter remains under investigation.
Last year, a CBSE inspection committee alleged systemic failures in student safety and handling of complaints at the school.
Watching the footage, Shivani said she believes Amaira was trying to describe something that carried sexual connotations, although she acknowledges that the exact content shown on the slate has never been established. What she said was visible, however, was her daughter’s changing body language.
“I feel as a mother, whatever she was being shown had some sexual connotations. And she was explaining the same thing to the teacher. Earlier in the morning she was confident, she was standing straight. Now you can see how her back moves downwards, her shoulder is down. She is explaining. But the teacher cornered Amaira. She was seen threatening her,” Shivani told NDTV.
According to the parents’ account, Amaira approached her class teacher five times over roughly 25 minutes. Shivani said that alone demonstrates the seriousness of what her daughter believed had happened. She told NDTV that approaching a teacher is not an easy step for a nine-year-old, particularly when the teacher represents authority. Since Amaira began kindergarten, she said, she had always taught her daughter that if something went wrong at school, the first person she should approach was her class teacher.
The parents say they later contacted both teachers who were present inside the classroom that day. According to Shivani, the mathematics teacher told them she had been unwell and was not conducting the class, adding that she knew nothing about the incident.
The class teacher, the parents said, told them Amaira had complained that classmates were preventing her from studying and were using ‘bad words’.
The parents say investigators assured them that the classroom scene would be reconstructed and that every effort would be made to determine what happened.
Previous Instances Of Bullying
Shivani said there had been earlier incidents, but said they were different in nature. On one occasion, she said, another child slapped Amaira, leaving her hand red. She submitted a written complaint to the school and says teachers assured her it would not happen again.
“There was another incident in which Amaira was shown the middle finger. And after that, I also went to the teacher, To the coordinator and to the principal that time also. Gave my complaint in writing. Sent few SMS also. Few WhatsApp. Shared the recording,” Shivani told NDTV.
Amaira’s Mental Health
Amaira’s father, Vijay, rejected suggestions that she had been a child already struggling emotionally. He pointed instead to her school record. He said her attendance was consistently high, arguing that a child living under constant distress would struggle to attend school regularly or perform academically.
There is nothing like that. What happened that day is an isolated incident. This is what you have to say.
“If a child is in regular distress, se won’t be able to go to school. Secondly, she won’t be good at academics. She won’t be able to perform anywhere. But Amaira, you see, on October 11, she won the All-Round Excellence Award. Out of 300 children, she won the All-Round Excellence Award. Last year, she won the Yoga Award. She used to participate in every activity, dance, singing, Kathak. She used to participate in everything,” Vijay told NDTV.
Immediate Aftermath
The parents also question the school’s response after the fall. They said Amaira fell at approximately 12.28 pm but they were not informed until 1.08 pm, around 40 minutes later. They reached the hospital within about 10 minutes of receiving the call.
There, Shivani recalled one of the most painful moments of her life.
“It was a nightmare. We got a call at 1.08 pm from the school. The fall took place at 12.28 pm. So, you can see that there was almost a time gap of 40 minutes in informing us,” she told NDTV.
She told NDTV that when they arrived, there was no representative from the school with them. She said Amaira’s injuries were so severe that the family recognised her only by a mole on her left foot.
“We reached in 10 minutes. There was nobody from the school side there. I kept shouting. Because the moment we saw Amaira at 1.20 pm, we understood that she was no more. Because her body was swollen. Her face was not in the state to be recognised. We recognised our child from the mole on her left foot. In our last moment, there was nobody with us,” Shivani told NDTV.
The parents also alleged that after the incident the school cleaned parts of the premises and delayed investigators from entering the campus.
Watching the footage repeatedly, they said they relive the same morning over and over again.
“We are still living that nightmare. We live that day every night,” Shivani told NDTV.
