Child rights body intervenes in case of boy barred by school

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has taken serious cognisance of the matter mid-day highlighted last year in November, when a six-year-old boy was barred from attending classes in a Dombivli-based school, after his mother complained about alleged corporal punishment meted to him by a teacher. It has asked authorities concerned, including the deputy commissioner of education, Thane, and the Collector to urgently investigate the matter, and issue appropriate instructions to comply with the provisions of the Right to Education Act.

The letters
On January 17, NCPCR registrar Jagannath Pati wrote to Thane's Deputy Commissioner of Education Manish Joshi, regarding a complaint against The Shri Ram Universal School (TSUS), Dombivli, for allegedly harassing the boy, Advik Shetty, with respect to the violations of Section l7 of RTE Act 2009. A copy of the letter was dispatched to Rajesh J. Narvekar, Thane district collector and Shivaji Rathod, district superintendent of police. The NCPCR has asked the authorities to submit their reports within 10 days to their headquarters in Delhi. They were to send the reports by January 27.

The issue
Advik was denied entry into the school for 23 days in October citing his alleged violent behaviour, and his parents were asked to produce a mental fitness certificate. He was allowed to continue classes after the intervention of the state education minister. The action was taken after September 7, when a teacher, Sneha Kashid, allegedly thrashed Advik, and with the help of a security guard, dragged him down from the first floor to the ground floor, causing bruises and cuts. Following this, his mother, Sushmeeta, approached the principal. She claimed that despite repetitive requests, the school management did not show her the CCTV footage of the staircase from where Advik was dragged.

'Unsafe for him'
Now Advik has stopped attending classes because Sushmeeta feels it is unsafe for him. "The school did not stop harassing my child and he was unnecessarily asked to sit in the medical room and tortured every day. I feel it is unsafe hence I have demanded police protection for six hours when he is at school. Police are trying to recover the deleted CCTV footage. Advik has suffered mental stress, and is unable to understand why he is made to sit alone," said Sushmeeta.

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