The bruises on Rani’s back. Picture by Abhijit Chakrabarty

Balurghat, July 24: The headmaster of a primary school, who yesterday caned a Class II girl till the stick broke into two, has insisted that students need to be “punished if and when required”.

The girl was beaten up because she failed do a sum.

Rani Baske, whose body still bears the marks of yesterday’s beating, is in a state of shock and refuses to go back to school. The girl was taken to the Balapur health centre where doctors prescribed an X-ray of her bruised back to see if any bones are broken.

“I admit that I was too harsh on her,” said the headmaster of Balapur Primary School, Jitendranath Sarkar. “But I believe that students need to be punished if and when required.”

However, the chairman of the district primary school council, Apurba Sen, has taken serious exception to the way Sarkar assaulted the girl.

“A teacher is not even permitted to shout at a student in the current education system, leave alone cane someone. The headmaster has violated government norms,” Sen said.

The chairman has asked the school inspector to conduct a probe and submit a report at the earliest.

According to a complaint lodged by the girl’s mother with Tapan police, Sarkar beat her up mercilessly with a stick when she failed to solve a Math problem.

“The headmaster became furious and started caning me when I could not do the sum. I started crying and fell on his feet begging for mercy. But he continued to beat me till the stick broke,” recounted Rani.

The girl fell sick and said she had a burning sensation all over her body. Back home, she did not find either of her parents, who had gone to the field to work. She narrated the story to her mother when she came back in the evening. Her mother and the neighbours then took her to the local health centre.

“I cannot go to the school anymore. The headmaster will beat me up again,” said a sobbing Rani.

Rani’s father Lakshman Murmu alleged that the headmaster often came to school drunk. Lakshman added that he is too poor to get the X-ray on his daughter done.

Sarkar, however, said the allegation of drunkenness is “politically motivated”. “They are trying to sully my name because I have shifted from the RSP to the CPM,” he said.

Officer-in-charge of Tapan police station Manoj Modak said an inquiry has begun on the basis of the written complaint. Steps will be taken against Sarkar if he is found guilty, Modak added.