Ramkrishna Mission Vidyapith in Deoghar and (above) the residential complex for the senior students. Telegraph pictures

Dumka, July 13: A Class IX student of Ramkrishna Mission Vidyapith, Deoghar — the oldest among mission cradles established in 1922 — was allegedly beaten up by 16 seniors on July 5 after he told his classmates that he had seen two Class X students in compromising position in their shared hostel room the night before.

To make matters worse, the school authorities took a cavalier attitude to the attack. They allegedly kept 14-year-old Swetarka Bhoumik, who according to his doctor father suffered a ruptured ear membrane and injuries to his genitals, on paracetamol tablets for two days at the school hospital and forgot to inform his parents.

Swetarka’s father Prabir Bhoumik has since pulled him out of the Deoghar mission school. He received his son’s transfer certificate yesterday.

Mother Swati said Lord Baidyanath came to her son’s rescue. Having come to Deoghar to offer puja at the famous temple that is celebrating the holy month of Shravan, she decided to check in on her son. When she visited the school on July 7, she found, to her utter surprise, that Swetarka had been hospitalised.

“My wife called me and cried. She said our son was given only paracetamol and B Complex capsules despite attending doctors insisting that he be examined by an ENT specialist at another hospital with better facilities. We rushed our son to AMRI Hospitals in Calcutta. He was admitted on Monday (July 9),” Prabir Bhoumik, himself a paediatrician, said.

According to Bhoumik, Swetarka told his mother that he had seen two of his seniors indulge in “homosexual activity” at their hostel room, which houses two juniors and two seniors, on July 4. The day after, he told his classmates and the news spread on campus.

“First, they slapped him in the morning. Then, during recess that day, between 2pm and 4pm, the two Class X students and 14 of their friends attacked my son with sticks and belts on the school’s football ground. The assault lasted for over 20 minutes. They also threatened my son with dire consequences if he complained to teachers. My son is traumatised,” the father said.

Sources at AMRI confirmed that the boy had been admitted to the Calcutta hospital on July 9, with trauma and injuries in one of the ears. “He was discharged on July 11. The injury was minor and he has recovered,” a hospital official said.

Bhoumik, however, claimed that Swetarka’s injuries were serious. “In fact, I lodged an FIR with East Jadavpur police (in Calcutta) on July 8 because AMRI insisted on it before admission.”

He said he would register a complaint with Ramkrishna Math and Ramkrishna Mission, headquartered in Belur, Bengal, which runs the Deoghar institution.

“The casual approach of the school management towards my son’s treatment only suggests one thing — it is trying to cover up the tracks of indisciplined senior students,” Bhoumik alleged.

He pointed out that neither school secretary Sarbaganandaji nor chief warden Mohan Maharaj had visited his son at the internal hospital.

Speaking to The Telegraph over phone after much hesitation, Sarbaganandaji said: “Incidents take place in every hostel… only five students had slapped Swetarka and they have been suspended from their classes for 10 days.”