News Analysis India

Tag: corporal punishment

  • UP: Teacher hurts Class V student with drilling machine for failing to recite multiplication table

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: In an incident of corporal punishment, an instructor used a power hand drilling machine to wound the hand of a Class V student after allegedly he failed to answer the multiplication table of two at Basic Primary Model School in Prem Nagar area of Kanpur on Thursday.

    The incident came to light on Friday when the student’s parents protested in front of the school demanding action against the instructor. 

    Amid the protest, Basic Education Officer (BSA) accosted the parents and tried to appease them. Subsequently, he announced the termination of the instructor Anuj Pandey from service. Further, the BSA constituted a three-member committee to probe into the incident.

    “A three-member committee has been formed to look into various aspects such as whether the child was hurt deliberately or accidentally and also the role of other teachers in hushing up the incident,” the BSA added.

    Local sources said that the nine-year-old boy was passing through the school library when the instructor, hired from a private institution, was overseeing the repairing work with a power-driven hand-drilling machine in his hand. 

    On seeing the boy, the instructor stopped him and asked him to recite the table of two which the student failed to explain correctly.

    Following this, the instructor, Anuj, ran the drilling machine through the hand of the student. 

    “Anuj Sir asked me to tell the table of two. As I failed to recite the table correctly, he got infuriated and ran the drilling machine on my left hand. One of the students Krishna standing beside me pulled the plug out to stop the machine but by then my hand had got injured,” the boy said narrating the incident.

    The school authorities tried to play the incident down and sent the injured student with little first aid. 

    “The school administration neither informed the higher authorities about the incident nor did they take any action against the instructor Anuj. Moreover, the injured child was not given an anti-Tetanus injection immediately after the incident,” said one of the boy’s relatives.

    However, the school authorities informed the district education officer about the incident following protests by the child’s parents on Friday.

    LUCKNOW: In an incident of corporal punishment, an instructor used a power hand drilling machine to wound the hand of a Class V student after allegedly he failed to answer the multiplication table of two at Basic Primary Model School in Prem Nagar area of Kanpur on Thursday.

    The incident came to light on Friday when the student’s parents protested in front of the school demanding action against the instructor. 

    Amid the protest, Basic Education Officer (BSA) accosted the parents and tried to appease them. Subsequently, he announced the termination of the instructor Anuj Pandey from service. Further, the BSA constituted a three-member committee to probe into the incident.

    “A three-member committee has been formed to look into various aspects such as whether the child was hurt deliberately or accidentally and also the role of other teachers in hushing up the incident,” the BSA added.

    Local sources said that the nine-year-old boy was passing through the school library when the instructor, hired from a private institution, was overseeing the repairing work with a power-driven hand-drilling machine in his hand. 

    On seeing the boy, the instructor stopped him and asked him to recite the table of two which the student failed to explain correctly.

    Following this, the instructor, Anuj, ran the drilling machine through the hand of the student. 

    “Anuj Sir asked me to tell the table of two. As I failed to recite the table correctly, he got infuriated and ran the drilling machine on my left hand. One of the students Krishna standing beside me pulled the plug out to stop the machine but by then my hand had got injured,” the boy said narrating the incident.

    The school authorities tried to play the incident down and sent the injured student with little first aid. 

    “The school administration neither informed the higher authorities about the incident nor did they take any action against the instructor Anuj. Moreover, the injured child was not given an anti-Tetanus injection immediately after the incident,” said one of the boy’s relatives.

    However, the school authorities informed the district education officer about the incident following protests by the child’s parents on Friday.

  • UP boy beaten up by teacher for not paying fees, succumbs in hospital after 8 days

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: In an incident similar to the one in Rajasthan’s Jalaur, a student of class 3 in Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh lost his life to the cruelty of teacher who thrashed him badly for not paying the fees. The student died in a hospital in Bahraich on Wednesday.

    As per the police sources, the incident took place at Pandit Brahmin Uchchattam Madhyamik School Chaulahi under Sirsiya police station area in Shravasti on August 8.

    Shravasti police authorities confirmed the incident saying that a case was lodged in the matter against the teacher under various relevant sections of IPC on the basis of a complaint submitted by the uncle of the 13-year-old victim Brijesh Vishwakarma.

    Shravasti’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Arvind K Maurya said: “The 13-year-old student who was studying in class 3 died in a hospital in Bahraich on August 17. His uncle complained that he was beaten by his school teacher on August 8. Case has been registered under relevant sections and further investigation is underway.”

    The family of the deceased alleged that the boy was beaten mercilessly by the teacher as his school fees was not deposited.

    The sources claimed that teacher Anupam Pathak initially slapped the child for not bringing the fees. The child reportedly kept begging for mercy but the teachers did not stop and thrust himself upon the back of the student and continued to thrash him which led the child to turn unconscious. After sometime when he regained consciousness, the school principal also threatened him of dire consequences if he shared the incident with his parents.

    The local sources said that as the child reached home, the family members rushed him to the district hospital where the doctors referred him to Bahriach Medical College owing to his serious condition. The boy succumbed to his injuries after battling for life for eight days.

    Victim’s brother Rajesh Vishwakarma said that he had deposited the school fee – Rs 250 per month – online. But the teacher did not know about it, and thrashed his brother. “His hand was fractured and there was internal bleeding which led to his death,” Vishwakarma added.

    Student’s family, along with some local people demonstrated at Bhinga-Sirsia Marg. They were then assured by the police of thorough investigation.

    LUCKNOW: In an incident similar to the one in Rajasthan’s Jalaur, a student of class 3 in Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh lost his life to the cruelty of teacher who thrashed him badly for not paying the fees. The student died in a hospital in Bahraich on Wednesday.

    As per the police sources, the incident took place at Pandit Brahmin Uchchattam Madhyamik School Chaulahi under Sirsiya police station area in Shravasti on August 8.

    Shravasti police authorities confirmed the incident saying that a case was lodged in the matter against the teacher under various relevant sections of IPC on the basis of a complaint submitted by the uncle of the 13-year-old victim Brijesh Vishwakarma.

    Shravasti’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Arvind K Maurya said: “The 13-year-old student who was studying in class 3 died in a hospital in Bahraich on August 17. His uncle complained that he was beaten by his school teacher on August 8. Case has been registered under relevant sections and further investigation is underway.”

    The family of the deceased alleged that the boy was beaten mercilessly by the teacher as his school fees was not deposited.

    The sources claimed that teacher Anupam Pathak initially slapped the child for not bringing the fees. The child reportedly kept begging for mercy but the teachers did not stop and thrust himself upon the back of the student and continued to thrash him which led the child to turn unconscious. After sometime when he regained consciousness, the school principal also threatened him of dire consequences if he shared the incident with his parents.

    The local sources said that as the child reached home, the family members rushed him to the district hospital where the doctors referred him to Bahriach Medical College owing to his serious condition. The boy succumbed to his injuries after battling for life for eight days.

    Victim’s brother Rajesh Vishwakarma said that he had deposited the school fee – Rs 250 per month – online. But the teacher did not know about it, and thrashed his brother. “His hand was fractured and there was internal bleeding which led to his death,” Vishwakarma added.

    Student’s family, along with some local people demonstrated at Bhinga-Sirsia Marg. They were then assured by the police of thorough investigation.

  • Reprimanding students for indiscipline would not tantamount to provocation for suicide: SC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Reprimanding a student for his indiscipline would not be tantamount to provoking a student to kill themselves unless there are repeated specific allegations of harassment, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.

    The apex court said that an old saying — spare the rod and spoil the child — may have lost its relevance in present days and Corporal punishment to the child is not recognised by law but that does not mean that a teacher or school authorities have to shut their eyes to any indiscipline act of a student.

    The top court said it is a solemn duty of a teacher to instill discipline in the students and reprimanding a student for not being attentive or not being up to the mark in studies or for bunking classes or not attending the school is not uncommon.

    The observations were made by the apex court while quashing an FIR against a school teacher accused under section 306 of the Indian Penal Code for abatement of the suicide of a class 9 student.

    “The disciplinary measures adopted by a teacher or other authorities of a school, reprimanding a student for his indiscipline, in our considered opinion, would not tantamount to provoking a student to kill themselves unless there are repeated specific allegations of harassment and insult deliberately without any justifiable cause or reason,” a bench of Justices S A Nazeer and Krishna Murari said.

    The bench set aside an order of Rajasthan High Court which refused to quash an FIR against a Physical Training (PT) teacher who was accused of abetment of the suicide of a student.

    The apex court said a simple act of reprimand of a student for his behaviour or indiscipline by a teacher, who is under moral obligations to inculcate the good qualities of a human being in a student would definitely not amount to instigation or intentionally aid to the commission of suicide by a student.

    “It is not only the moral duty of a teacher but one of the legally assigned duties under Section 24 (e) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 to hold regular meetings with the parents and guardians and apprise them about the regularity in attendance, ability to learn, progress made in learning and any other act or relevant information about the child,” the bench said.

    The apex court said that for alleged abetment of suicide under Section 306 IPC there must be an allegation of either direct or indirect act of incitement to the commission of the offence of suicide.

    It said mere allegations of harassment of the deceased by another person would not be sufficient in itself, unless, there are allegations of such actions on the part of the accused which compelled the commission of suicide.

    “Further, if the person killing themeselves is hypersensitive and the allegations attributed to the accused is otherwise not ordinarily expected to induce a similarly situated person to take the extreme step of , it would be unsafe to hold the accused guilty of abetment of suicide,” the bench said.

    The apex court said that what is required is an examination of every case on its own facts and circumstances and keeping in consideration the surrounding circumstances as well, which may have bearing on the alleged action of the accused and the psyche of the deceased.

    The top court was hearing an appeal filed by Geo Varghese against an order passed by the Rajasthan High Court dismissing the petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking to quash the FIR at Police Station Sodala, Jaipur City (South) against him under section 306 IPC The accused, a Physical Training Teacher in St.

    Xavier’s School, Nevta, Jaipur, and also a member of the Disciplinary Committee for maintaining overall discipline by the students of the School, was booked for an offence under Section 306 (abatement of suicide) Indian Penal Code.

    The appellant was appointed as a Physical Training Teacher in St. Xavier’s School, Nevta in the year 2016.

    He was also a member of the Disciplinary Committee for maintaining overall discipline by the students of the School.

    One student of Class 9th of the institution, unfortunately, committed suicide in the morning on April 26, 2018.

    The mother of the deceased student lodged the FIR in question on May 2, 2018, before the concerned Police Station under Section 306 IPC after about 7 days of the suicide, alleging that her son committed suicide due to mental harassment meted out by the appellant.

    The apex court noted that in the First Information Report and as also the statement of the complainant recorded by the police, no reasons or cause for the accused teacher to harass and insult the victim are spelled out.

    “The appellant having found the deceased boy regularly bunking classes, first reprimanded him but on account of repeated acts, brought this fact to the knowledge of the Principal, who called the parents on the telephone to come to the school.

    “No further overt act has been attributed to the appellant either in the First Information Report or in the statement of the complainant, or anything in this regard has been stated in the alleged suicide note,” the bench said.

    Even the suicide note does not attribute any act or instigation on the part of the appellant to connect him with the offence for which he is being charged, it said.