Body of student from Indian School Wadi Kabir repatriated to India

Muscat: The body of the student who committed suicide by jumping from the roof of her apartment building last Saturday, February 8, was repatriated back to India at 11 o’clock on Tuesday night, so that her last rites can be performed.

The girl had been studying at Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir, and had recently completed her term exams.

All administrative procedures in Oman were completed with the help of friends of the girl's family, as well as officials from the Indian Embassy in Muscat.

"The girl's family were very set that her last rites would happen only in India, and for this reason, the Royal Oman Police were very helpful in completing all of the procedures quickly," said Dr Manu Suseel, a close family friend, who was helping with the formalities. The body was embalmed at the Royal Oman Police mortuary, where her parents were present, as well as many well-wishers from the society.

“They left Muscat at 11 pm on Tuesday night,” he added. “Her parents needed to collect all of the supporting documents and that took some time.”

Officials at the Embassy of India in Muscat confirmed that they had provided the family with their no objection certificate, which is a requirement to repatriate the bodies of expat residents in Oman back to their home countries.

Dr Manu Suseel added, “Many of us have been with the family to offer our support, and there has been a lot of support coming in. As a doctor myself, I would like to ask all organisations concerned with student welfare to ensure that, in future, stress points that affect children are dealt with, both at the level of the child and the teacher.

“Going forward, I would underline the fact that there need to be measures to check the stress levels of students and teachers,” he said.

“There needs to be some sort of revision to the school system that is currently in place. The pressure to excel on students is sometimes too much. We need to realise the capacity or competency of students, because some children are quite sensitive about this. We must come up with certain checklists to look after our students as part of the learning setup.”