Khadki school

KCB CEO

The principal of Dr Zakir Hussain Secondary School and Higher Secondary School slapped and punched the girl; (top , L) she was taken to Dr Ambedkar Cantonment General Hospital, where officials refused to reveal the contents of her medico-legal case report

Yashmin Dastagir Bhai

teacher

She (the principal) said that the scene we were making over the incident will not do good for my daughter’s career — The child’s father

hospital administration

Legislations on corporal punishment has evidently failed to schoolteachers into exercising some anger management, but at Dr Zakir Hussain Secondary and Higher Secondary School, it was not a random tutor who could not spare the rod but the principal, who should be leading by example. She thrashed a student until the kid fell unconscious, on Monday morning. Worse, no medical attention was forthcoming from the school administration despite the visible plight of the child, said her parents.The 12-year-old, who is a student of Class VII, was picked on by the principal,, while making her rounds during the sixth period at 10.30 am. It was the class’ maths period but in the absence of the, the students had turned raucous.Enraged by their unruly behaviour, the principal stepped in and launched into a tirade. Just then she spied the victim talking to her classmate and marched up to her, slapped her some 10-12 times, according to an account the girl’s mother got from her friends.The mother alleged, that livid beyond control, the principal also punched the girl in the back, which saw her swooning to the ground. Clearly in shock she could barely get up and walk. While the school staff and faculty looked the other way, it was left to two of her classmates to bring her to the ground floor where she was laid on a bench and she remained there until her mother came when the school gave over. The authorities had not bothered to inform her parents of her condition.Recalling the sight that greeted her when she went to pick up her daughter, the mother told Mirror, “I was shocked to find my daughter laid up. I got a briefing of what happened to her from two of her friends. I realised that my daughter had been left to her situation unattended by the school for two hours. We’d also not been summoned to take care of her.”Taking cognisance of the girl’s condition the mother called her husband and the two rushed the kid to the hospital. “My daughter is so traumatised she is not eating. She is not ready to return to school and fears she will be attacked by her principal again,” the mother complained.The father of the girl gave an even more shocking account. “I am a vegetable vendor at Khadki Bazaar. I rushed to the school when my wife called and got our daughter admitted at the Dr Ambedkar Cantonment General Hospital in Khadki. The principal came to the hospital and threatened us. She insisted that it was not such a big issue as we were making it out to be. When children create ruckus in school, we’re required to take disciplinary action, she argued. She said that the scene we were making over the incident will not do good for my daughter’s career.”The parents have also locked horns with the, over its refusal to divulge what was reported in the medico-legal case (MLC) certificate. “We wanted to see what was written in the MLC and the case paper, but they’re refusing to share it with us. The staff argued that if we have a problem with this stand we can shift our daughter to Sassoon Hospital,” the father told Mirror.The hospital’s resident medical officer, Dr Ranjeet Bhosale, pointed out, “The parents brought the child all dizzy and informed us of what happened. We then suggested that it was an MLC and we needed to inform the cops. Later some relatives of the couple came in started pressuring us to show the report. We tried explaining that the report cannot be shared as it goes directly to the police, but they were in no mood to listen. As the argument ensued they started video-recording the interaction. When our doctor protested that video recordings are not allowed, they got more aggressive and started complaining that the patient was not being given proper treatment. But this is not true as due attention has been given.”The case has also been taken up with Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB), which runs the school. Speaking to Mirror, Pramod Kumar Singh, chief executive officer of KCB, informed, “We’ve issued a notice to the teacher concerned and also sent out an advisory to all educational institutions run by the board to refrain from such acts. I learnt of the episode from the principal and the matter was discussed before the board members and the family of the child. Further action will be taken pursuant to our investigation. Presently, the principal has gone on leave claiming ill health subsequent to the incident.”In fact, when Mirror tried calling Dastagir Bhai, her phone was switched off.