By IRNA,
Guwahati, India : A sixth standard school student Monday became Assam’s 1st fatality to corporal punishment – physically tortured by 2 teachers merely for not completing his homework.
Mousam Raj Mahanta, 12, died at a city hospital in Guwahati Monday afternoon with doctors claiming his death was due to septic shock followed by multiple organ failure.
The incident took place May 25 when Mousam was severely assaulted by two of his teachers at Saraswati Siksha Niketan, an English medium school, at Mirza on the outskirts of Guwahati.
“My son was hit eight times on his knees with a stick by the computer teacher for not completing his homework and then again he was assaulted thrice (beaten) by the school vice principal,” Mousam’s father Achyut Mahanta said.
Mousam was down with some eye ailments and hence unable to attend classes for few days before May 25.
“I wrote in the school diary citing reasons for his absence and still the teacher insisted on his homework and assaulted him. When he went to the vice principal to show the diary, he was assaulted again,” Achyut said.
Mousam returned back home from school on May 25 limping and his condition deteriorated and he was writing in pain.
“For the first few days we treated him at a local hospital in Mirza and when his condition worsened we shifted him to a city hospital on June 1,” Achyut said.
Interestingly, even after receiving the news of Mousam’s death Monday, the school continued with its normal classes – teachers claiming closing of classes would have inconvenienced other students from reaching their homes as there were no school buses available at that time and hence winded up classes as per schedule.
“A case of unnatural death was lodged and we shall investigate the matter,” a local police official said.
Teachers and the school management denied Mousam had died due to physical assault and instead claimed he was suffering from disease.
“My son was hale and hearty and never had any problems apart from some eye sores he was down with,” Achyut said.
Interestingly, the Assam government in February this year introduced a tough law banning corporal punishments in schools with provision for prosecuting errant teachers, including suspension and even termination from service. The Assam Corporal Punishment for Educational Institutions (Prohibition) Bill is likely to become a law when it comes before the state assembly next month.
The decision to introduce the bill follows a recent UNICEF study that gave Assam schools the dubious distinction of topping the list of Indian schools where corporal punishment and humiliation of students were rampant – 99.56 percent of students in Assam schools were victim of corporal punishment.
And more recently, the state was rocked by a bizarre incident of a Class 8 student in Guwahati attempting to commit suicide by jumping from the second floor of the institution alleging punishment and humiliation for speaking in Assamese inside the school.
Once this bill becomes an act, a teacher could be prosecuted on a criminal charge, suspended from service, and even face termination of service, if found to have indulged in corporal punishment.