A team from the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) on Tuesday visited St Francis, Ranchi - where a Class VI student was allegedly made to do enough sit-ups to put him on painkillers for 48 hours last month - and warned the school authorities against a corporal punishment rerun.
Eleven-year-old Mayank Sharma, who had told his parents on June 20 that his class teacher had punished him harshly for merely talking in class, reiterated in front of commission members that he was asked to do 250 sit-ups by Joy C. Lakra, a claim that the school authorities have once again denied.
The SCPCR team, comprising its chairperson Arti Kujur and members Manoj Kumar and Vinita Devi, reached the St Francis campus around 12.20pm and spent the next one hour quizzing students, teachers and non-teaching staff, besides the victim and the accused. It is learnt to have asked the school management to submit an internal inquiry report on the alleged corporal punishment within three days.
Speaking to this newspaper later, chairperson Kujur said while the offence had been primarily established, there was contradiction over the quantum of punishment awarded - and hence its severity.
"The child (Mayank) has claimed he was asked to do 250 sit-ups for talking in class. An internal probe done by the school suggests he did 25-30 sit-ups for not doing his homework. Since there is a controversy here, the school has been asked to submit a written report by Friday," said Kujur who met both St Francis principal Sister Angelin and school manager Brother Jose.
Commission member Manoj said they had warned the school against traumatising children. "We grilled the accused teacher (Lakra) and concluded that he had awarded corporal punishment. He admitted to 25 sit-ups because the boy was talking in class and hadn't done homework. He even apologised and assured us that he would not repeat the mistake. We directed the school authorities to make teachers aware of child rights," he added.
Members of the school's internal inquiry committee, Pushpa Rani Xalxo, Rekha Mili and Preetam Tigga, on Tuesday underscored that classmates of Mayank had confirmed that he didn't do more than 30 sit-ups. "We will submit our report as asked by the SCPCR," Xalxo said.
It is quite possible that the child actually pulled off only 30 sit-ups even though the punishment awarded to him by class teacher Lakra was 250. But, that does not change facts and absolve the teacher of his offence.
SCPCR chairperson Kujur said they could not speak to Mayank's classmates because a test was on. "We did not want to disturb the children. We will talk to them once we have the internal committee's report in hand."
The commission visit comes 13 days after The Telegraph published a report on the corporal punishment Mayank was allegedly subjected to. On June 23, the paper had highlighted National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) guidelines that say how several provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) can be used to prosecute perpetrators of corporal punishment in an institutional setting.
These include Sections 305 (abetment to suicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 326 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means). If proven guilty under Section 323 (most likely in Mayank's case), the teacher in question may have to serve a jail term of a year.
On why their visit was delayed, Kujur maintained that an inquiry could not be conducted alone. "Other members (of SCPCR) had engagements and we could not find a suitable date earlier," she said.
