A man filed a complaint against the principal of his son’s school for allegedly assaulting his son, after he approached the court opposing the excess fees charged by the school.
His son was allegedly assaulted, hours after Shankar, the complainant, approached the court on the excess fee issue.
Following the complaint, the West division police have invoked the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 against the principal, reported Praveen Kumar for Bangalore Mirror.
According to the newspaper report, Shankar, the complainant, alleged that his 13-year-old son was repeatedly punished by Asha Lata, the prinicipal, after he approached the court.
He said that his son was reportedly punished in the cellar of the school by the principal on Thursday, November 3.
“My son was late to school on Thursday and the school prayers had already begun. My son had gone to school without having his breakfast. He ran inside the classroom to keep his schoolbag. As he was exhausted, he could not stand at the prayers and returned to the classroom to rest there. One of the school's caretakers observed this and informed the principal. The principal asked the caretaker to take my son to the cellar, where he was severely beaten,” he alleged.
Krishna alleged that the principal slapped and hit his son’s head with her fist. She reportedly even dragged him in front of everybody and made him stand near the reception for a long time, even after his son is said to have told her that he was not keeping well, reported BM.
“My two sons go to the school. One is studying in third standard, while the other is in the seventh standard. It is my elder son that the principal assaulted. After he came home, we took him to KC General Hospital for treatment. Doctors there advised him bed rest. The reason my son was subjected to corporal punishment is because I had approached the court against the school for charging excess fees in violation of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983, and the Karnataka Education Institutions (Regulation of certain fees and donations) Rules, 1999. The verdict came in our favour, as the court directed the school to either return the excess fees or adjust the same for the next academic year. This has obviously irked her. While the school charges Rs 40,000 per student, I have paid only Rs 13,000 each for my children,” Krishna added.
Refuting the allegations, Asha said that many of the school faculty were in fear of such complaints being registered against them and hence, they weren’t able to communicate with children properly, reported BM.
“The allegations made against me are false and baseless. The said parent is yet to clear some dues and a reminder in this regard has been sent to him through registered post,” said Asha Lata.
She added that teachers have reportedly received threats from students when they questioned them on their performance.
“We alone know the harassment and humiliation we undergo outside the school. The worst was when a nine-year-old boy studying in fourth standard threatened to have the school shut if any teacher questioned him on his test performance,” she added.
Apart from the Juvenile Justice Act, the police have booked the principal for voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation.
“The principal has been summoned and her statement will be recorded. Since the boy's father has alleged that the incident happened in front of a caretaker and a few others, we will have to question them too”, said an investigating officer.