A Howrah girl allegedly caught cheating while writing a pre-Madhyamik exam on Wednesday jumped to her death from the school terrace as soon as the day’s paper ended.

Police said 15-year-old Sunita Kumari, a Class X student of Howrah Shiksha Sadan, stepped out of the second-floor exam hall at 2.15pm and reached the terrace of the four-storeyed building even as her classmates headed downstairs discussing the Hindi-I paper.

Elder sister Soni Kumari, a college student, claimed that her sister was “verbally abused” by an invigilator after being caught with a chit containing “pointers” to help her answer some of the questions.

“Taking chits to the exam hall is unethical but students at Howrah Shiksha Sadan routinely resort to such methods and teachers look the other way. My sister was unlucky to be caught and insulted in front of everyone. So, she killed herself,” Soni cried.

Principal Durga Vyas said she was unaware of any invigilator rebuking an examinee on Wednesday. “I was not in the school after 1pm. I will find out what happened. In any case, there can be no justification for suicide,” she added.

Bikash Tiwari, a teacher of the school’s primary section, said he heard “something crash” onto the concrete roof of a toilet on the ground floor and looked up to see a girl rolling down to the ground.

“I screamed for help and ran towards the spot where the student fell. She wasn’t moving, and there was blood on her uniform. We took her to Howrah District Hospital, where doctors declared her dead. It’s a pity that a young life had to end this way,” he said.

The police have registered a case of unnatural death and questioned the school staff. “As of now, there is no question of pressing charges against anyone because no complaint has been lodged,” an investigator said.

Sunita was the second of tea-stall owner Radheshyam Chowrasia’s five children, four of them girls. “She was a happy girl and average in studies,” said uncle Ganesh Bhagat.

A veteran teacher of a south Calcutta school said she had changed her “style of dealing with students” over the years given the “hypersensitive mindset of today’s generation” that often prompted them to take “drastic” steps.

“I am scared to take my students to task. I fear they will do something drastic if I so much as scold them for not studying. It used to be so different when I started my career two decades ago,” she added.