Shankar Xalxo in Ranchi. Telegraph picture

Ranchi, Nov. 5: A Class VIII student of Sainik School-Tilaiya has alleged ragging by seniors, but the school authorities said the boy was probably making excuses not to return as he was unable to cope with the mandatory and rigorous training.

Dreams of becoming an army officer spurred Shankar Xalxo, a 14-year-old from Ranchi’s Karamtoli, to clear the difficult entrance test and enter the premier institution in 2009.

Barely two years down the line, he is back in Ranchi, working in his father’s tea-stall. He also refuses to go back to school where he claims he was routinely tortured by seniors in the hostel.

Shankar alleged that he faced ragging ever since he joined the school. Speaking about the most recent incident, he said on September 20, he was forced to do 500 push-ups by some older boys. “My hands were so badly swollen and I couldn’t appear for my last exam,” he said.

Though he seemed scared to say much, after much prodding the boy said two of his friends — Vishwanath Oraon and Satyam Sonu — had already left school as they could not cope with the ragging. He added complaints to teachers and the principal yielded no results.

“My seniors told me to come back to the hostel with two bags of food and enough money. If I didn’t, I would have to face the consequences,” he said.

Shankar’s parents insisted their son was a good student who was also ambitious. “Sensing his aspirations, I decided to do everything to provide him a good education. Imagine how difficult it is to pay for his school fees while running a tea stall,” said his father Munna.

“He is our only son and we are scared. If we force him to go back, he may take some extreme step. Since we aren’t too educated we don’t know what to do,” he added.

Goaded by the boy’s repeated complaints, the parents have now approached the Jharkhand Human Rights Movement (JHRM), an NGO working for tribal rights. The NGO officials said they had written to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

“This isn’t the first such incident. One Rohit Murmu of Deoghar tried to commit suicide because of ragging in the school. We will take up the matter with the school reopens on November 7,” said JHRM convenor Gladson Dungdung.

However, when contacted, school principal Lt Col T.D. Premlal said he wasn’t aware about any such complaints. “No one has come to me with any complaints of ragging. Even the hostel wardens aren’t aware of it,” he said.

He added that it was possible that the boy could not cope with the rigorous regime and was making excuses to stay away.

“Besides academics, we also train students to be physically and mentally tough. The boy should have spoken to us before the school closed,” he said, adding that the school had a strong anti-ragging mechanism in place.