The suspension of the principal of La Martiniere for Boys is set to top the recommendations of the probe team from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights when it submits its report later this week.
“We are going to make the recommendation for suspension, pending police investigation, based on our findings of what went on in the school leading to the day Rouvanjit Rawla died,” Ashok Agarwal, the probe team chief, told Metro from Delhi on Sunday.
The team will also recommend action against three other teachers — L.G. Gunnion, Partha Dutta and Anand Bhaju — for administering corporal punishment on the Class VIII boy who was found hanging at his Alipore home on February 12.
“We are not ruling out a link between the corporal punishment and humiliation faced by Rouvanjit and his death and expect that the police will look into it in detail,” added Agarwal.
The probe team has found that on February 12, Rouvanjit was “constantly humiliated” for over two school periods by three teachers before being taken to the principal’s office.
“Primary evidence has been provided by a boy who was also at the receiving end of corporal punishment along with Rouvanjit and who was later forced to take a transfer from the school,” said Agarwal, requesting that the boy’s identity be kept confidential.
“I know Rouvan was humiliated for almost the entire time he was in school that day. I hope that an example is set so that no child has to suffer like he did,” said Ajay Rawla, who has filed an abetment-to-suicide case against the principal and four teachers for their alleged role in his son’s death.
The commission’s report will underline that “all is not well” on the Loudon Street campus as, from all accounts, “caning by the principal was a regular affair at school”. Agarwal had earlier said that “it was shocking” how even after Chakravarthi had admitted to the school’s board of governors that he had caned the boy, he was let off with just a warning from the bishop (the chairman of the board).
Calls and text messages to the principal went unanswered, but earlier in the day Supriyo Dhar, the secretary to the school’s board of governors, had told Metro that they “disagree” with the preliminary findings of the probe team and stressed the national commission’s recommendations were “not binding”.
“They are not binding, but they should build up pressure on the school to take appropriate action and also guide the police and the state administration,” said Agarwal.
The school management had on Friday broken its silence on the matter and justified the occasional use of “corrective measures” to discipline some boys “in the interest of the larger student community of the school”.
Dhar clarified to Metro that “corrective measures” were not synonymous with “corporal punishment”, but did not elaborate on the “corrective measures” used.
Police procedure
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● What is the case? The complaint filed by Ajay Rawla at Shakespeare Sarani police station on June 7 accused the principal and four teachers of abetment to suicide for torturing his son Rouvanjit mentally and physically. Rouvanjit committed suicide on February 12.
● What did police do? They examined the post-mortem report, spoke to the boy’s family and friends, including a classmate who had witnessed Rouvanjit being punished. Officers also seized a diary of the Class VIII boy in which he wrote “I do not want to go to school… It’s very scary…”
● Why did the detective department take it up? Because of the rare nature of the case and the allegations against teachers of a leading school.
● What will the sleuths do now? First, record statements of the family members and friends. Then, gather evidence. Finally, question the accused.
● What is punishment by the book? The principal and four teachers of the school have been charged under Section 305 (abetment to suicide of child) of the IPC, which is non-bailable. If convicted the accused can be sentenced to death or imprisonment for life or imprisonment for 10 years and fine.
Can corporal punishment in school be justified? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com
