Fresh CCTV footage has reopened questions about the death of nine-year-old Amaira, a Class 4 student at Neerja Modi School in Jaipur, who fell from the fourth floor of the building last November.
According to the footage, Amaira entered her classroom appearing calm and normal. She greeted a friend and later joined other children in a dance class, taking part actively alongside her classmates.
On returning to the classroom, the footage shows some children handling a digital slate. The slate was reportedly shown to Amaira repeatedly, after which her behaviour is said to have changed noticeably. She appeared uneasy, embarrassed and increasingly withdrawn from her schoolwork.
The footage shows Amaira approaching her class teacher several times over the course of about an hour. Each time, according to the family’s account, she appeared to be trying to explain what was troubling her.
However, the footage reportedly shows that on more than one occasion, another student would also approach the teacher and speak, after which attention shifted away from her complaint.
The narration said that instead of being taken aside and heard separately, Amaira was repeatedly sent back to her seat as the situation in the classroom continued.
The footage is said to show Amaira’s anxiety increasing as the sequence of events unfolded. She is seen folding her hands as she tries to explain herself, and at one point covers her mouth and then her head, in what the family describes as a visible reaction of shock.
The narration alleged that the class teacher’s response appeared stern, and that Amaira looked “completely helpless” as she tried, unsuccessfully, to make herself heard.
Shortly afterwards, the footage shows Amaira leaving the classroom on her own. The narration said she moved quickly through the corridors and towards a staircase, and that no staff member is seen following or stopping her as she made her way from the ground floor to the fourth floor.
She fell nearly 48 feet from the fourth-floor railing on 1 November. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.
Family Demands Stricter Action
Amaira’s family has alleged inaction on the part of the police and has called for stricter provisions of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act to be applied, not only against the class teacher but also against the school’s principal and chairman.
Last year, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued a show-cause notice to Neerja Modi School after a two-member inspection committee visited a day after the incident. The board pointed to what it called systemic failures in the school’s approach to student safety.
The committee noted that Amaira, whose classroom was on the ground floor, was able to reach the fourth floor without being noticed by staff before the fall.
In its report, the CBSE said Amaira was bullied for 18 months and was told “bad words”, but class teacher Puneeta Sharma repeatedly dismissed her and her parents’ complaints on the matter.
The CBSE report cited several instances wherein Amaira was bullied by her classmates over a span of 18 months.
It said that in September, Amaira’s father had approached her class teacher after she was bullied by a boy (among those who had written some disturbing content on the slate). The teacher, however, said the student “needs to adjust with other kids”.
The committee noted Amaira’s teachers, classmates and parents’ statements that she was a “bright, friendly, cheerful student and an All-Rounder winner” at Neerja Modi School.
