Family members of Pratap Keshari Jena in front of Capital Boys’ High School in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 9: Parents of a Class X student in the capital have alleged that corporal punishment drove their son to suicide. The body of 14-year-old Pratap Kesari Jena was found lying near the railway tracks under the Satya Nagar overbridge.

The boy’s family alleged that Pratap, a student of Capital High School, Unit III, committed suicide after he was beaten up by one of his teachers for wearing a flashy bracelet and talking to classmates while the class was in progress.

However, the headmistress of the school, Bandana Mohapatra, denied the allegation saying corporal punishment was banned in the school. The teacher concerned, Umakant Barik, was not available for comment. The classmates of Pratap, the adopted son of Kedarnath Samal, a businessman, have clammed up following the incident.

Samal, a resident of the capital’s PHED colony, said in the FIR lodged with the Kharavela Nagar police that Pratap had been missing since yesterday afternoon. When he did not return from school, the family lodged a missing report with the police last night. His body was found on the railway tracks this morning.

The aggrieved family members and relatives of the boy staged a protest in front of the school with his body demanding a probe into his death and action against the “guilty” teacher. Police had to be deployed on the school premises as tension escalated. The protest by the family was withdrawn following talks between them and the headmistress who promised to take up the issue with the higher authorities.

Samal said that Pratap had gone to school on Thursday as usual. He got a call from his class teacher Geetanjali Mohanty around 3.30pm saying the boy was being naughty in class. “Being busy at the time, I told her that I would go to the school the next day to discuss the matter. When Pratap did not return home till 5pm, I called up the teacher and was told that he had left,” said Samal.

“We did not get any information about him and so, around 8pm we went to Kharavela Police station and lodged a missing complaint,” added Samal. In the morning, the boy was found lying on the rail tracks under the Satyanagar overbridge. Police were informed and the body was sent to Capital Hospital for post-mortem.

The railway police said the boy had committed suicide. “A case of unnatural death has been registered,” said S.R. Kar, the inspector-in-charge of Government Railway Police, Bhubaneswar.

Kharavela Nagar police said if the allegation of corporal punishment was proved, action would be taken against the guilty teachers. Corporal punishment has been banned in schools throughout the country.