Police have registered a complaint against Bishop Cotton Boys School, following allegations of physical abuse against a four-year-old boy.
The child's parent, Rivu Chakraborty, told The New Indian Express that his son had been repeatedly hit for "being naughty" in class by his teacher, only a week after classes began in July. Following numerous complaints from his son and a meeting with school authorities, Chakraborty approached Cubbon Park Police Station to register a complaint against the school. The police registered a non-cognisable report (NCR) against the school on August 18.
According to the complaint copy, the student of LKG had been hit on his lips and hands for misbehaving in class, and not studying properly. “He had told us in the first week of school that he had been hit, but we assumed he had misunderstood something. However, we noticed marks on his hands when picking him up from school, and immediately tried to get an appointment with the school authorities,” said Chakraborty.
He alleged that the school tried to cover up the incident, initially claiming that the marks were caused by a fight between boys, rather than corporal punishment. However, upon further questioning, the kindergarten coordinator for the school allegedly admitted that students would sometimes be ‘tapped’ to discipline them.
After promises that the incident would not recur, nearly a month later, his son talked about the abuse again. “He accidentally let it slip that the teacher was abusing him again, and he was scared because his teacher had told him not to tell us about the abuse,” Chakraborty said.
Though the complaint copy had only mentioned the physical abuse meted out to the child, Chakraborty also mentioned that he had been locked in a room against his will. “He told us he had been locked in a room with another male teacher, which got us worried. He was made to sit on the floor and was crying a lot, but wasn’t allowed outside the room,” Chakraborty said.
The school had also been unresponsive to communication attempts made by Chakraborty in getting answers or procuring relevant documents. “I had sent them multiple emails regarding this, and called the school office multiple times, because I wanted to remove my son from the school, but I didn't receive any response, and calls would be disconnected mid-conversation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chakraborty took to social media to share the abuse that his son had faced, and immediately after was able to procure his son’s TC from the school.
Despite repeated attempts, the school refused to respond to any queries on the incident. Lavanya Mithran, acting principal of the school, told TNIE the queries would be addressed only through email.
