Bengaluru: Salarpuria Greenage apartments on Hosur Road in Bommana halli, in Bengaluru, is a peaceful, upmarket residential complex that houses senior professionals and several prominent businessmen. On Monday however, this aura of peace was shattered, when Monali Mahala, a 15-year-old girl, plunged to her death from the French windows of her 10th floor home.
Monali was a 10th standard student of National Public school in HSR Layout, a coed school, with a reputation for focus on academics. The family are natives of Orissa, and Monali was her parents’ only child. Her mother is a manager with a nationalized bank.
Reports say that though the incident took place around 3pm, the body was reportedly untouched for over 30 minutes as the complex’s security refused to allow anyone near the girl. They first informed the police, and then called an ambulance. The girl was first rushed to Narayana Hrudayalaya, where her father, Dr Bijoy Kumar Mahala, is a reputed cardiologist. But she was already dead on arrival and all they could do was shift her to St. John’s hospital for the mandatory post mortem.
Dr Bijoy Mahala was accompanied to the mortuary by relatives and a few authorities from Salarpuria Greenage apartments, but his wife reportedly stayed at home. However, on Tuesday, both, Dr Bijoy Kumar Mahala, and his wife, accompanied by other relatives went to Srirangapatna and conducted Monali’s last rites.
This extreme step… Why?
Rumors abound, but several sources in the know, say that she took the extreme step following a heated argument with her mother after she was allegedly suspended from school for one and half day over her friendship with a boy student. Apparently the principal called her mother and asked her to pick her up from school soon after he had spotted Monali with the boy. Reports say that she had been warned earlier too for the same reason. Sources say that the families of the boy and Monali are friends.
Reports indicate that the girl’s mother brought her back home by 3pm, and advised her to concentrate on her studies. The two had an argument, and a distressed Monali ran into the master bedroom, locking it from the inside. She then opened the French windows and leapt to her death.
However there are different versions emanating from different sources. One source says that, when the mother and child went to the principals chamber, she was given a lecture and humiliated in front of Monali over the latter’s alleged friendship with a male student. She was then handed two official letters and the two left for home.
One of the letters, it seems, was an order of suspension for`serious disciplinary misdemeanor’. It stated: “Monali Mahala, a student of class X, is hereby suspended for a day and a half on disciplinary grounds over objectionable behavior with a male classmate inside the school premises,” while the other, was reportedly an undertaking for the student and her mother to sign, and it stated “Monali promises to display good behavior” and “concentrate on her academics”.
Strangely, Monali was, according to sources, one of the top five students in her class, and was also very active in extracurricular activities.
These sources say that, on reaching home the duo decided to go to Narayana Hrudalaya to discuss the issue with her father, Dr. Bijoy Mahala. The mother left the letters on the table, as she went to change for the visit to the reputed hospital, when the girl, who had apparently not seen these letters earlier, read them. According the sources, there was no argument and it was these letters that prompted her extreme act.
The police view
The Police say that at the moment they do not suspect foul play, but they have yet to talk to the parents as they are very upset. They say that have registered a case of suicide and will investigate further.
The school authorities including the principal Chitra Rao and chairman and founder principal of National Public School, Dr K P Gopalakrishna, did not comment.
Gone and forgotten?
On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Monali’s alleged suicide, the in the school appeared calm and normal, but it was the calm of the grave – eerie.
No holiday was declared to mourn the loss of a student, and reports indicate that neither was a prayer service held. It was normal school day.
Some parents say that NPS is a pressure cooker for students. The main focus is academics and preparing students for competitive exams.
Inter sex mingling in coed schools – permitted or not?
What’s the rule? What’s the norm for inter sex mingling in coed schools? This question has arisen after Monali’s death. 
Bangalore University had, a few years ago, come out with a rule to stop boys and girls sitting next to each other and asked them to have only necessary interaction with each other. This rule fell into disuse due to widespread opposition to it from both within and outside the student community.
However, our information is that many co-ed schools do enforce it informally, and do not allow boys and girls to sit together in the higher classes. They even go so far as to regulate their movements and curtail dialogue between specific individuals if they suspect a growing closeness between them within the campus. The male teaching staff keep an eye on the boys and the female staff on the girls. First course of action is a warning, then counseling, next, the parents are informed and finally they are summoned and the child suspended. The use of CCTVs’ to monitor their activities on campus are not uncommon.
Schools both feel and are held responsible by parents and public for such untoward events.
Counseling, necessary but absent?
Counselors ‘believe that sensitization, openness and expertise are needed from the school’s end. They say “reprimand with love” for which the primary requirement is unconditional support by the school. Answering questions of students with openness, providing them with relationship advise through individual and group interactions are the key, counselors say.
“Earlier, it used to be in high school, now even students in fifth and sixth standards are coming up with questions. We need to give appropriate answers instead of shunning them away. If the school has a counsellor, they should be approachable and willing to answer,” a counselor said.
Counselors also advise parents to handle their kids, with… literally kid’s gloves. They say they must be sensitive to the child’s needs and feelings in such cases, and the reprimand must be reasoned out with the child rather than a straight reprimand, as they may then seek refuge in friends, in substance abuse and in some the cases, in an extreme step.
