A Bihar minister's son was allegedly ragged at the Scindia School in Gwalior
A panel probing the alleged suicide attempt of a 14-year-old boy at Gwalior's Scindia School, suspects that he had indeed been ragged and the school authorities are suppressing certain facts of the case.
The panel, headed by district collector P Narhari, submitted its report on Monday, reports the news agency Press Trust of India. On basis of the report, the collector has sought a reply from the school.
"A five-member committee constituted under the sub-divisional magistrate Shrutismita Saxena found that a few students of Class XII allegedly ragged the boy," Mr Narhari told PTI.
Citing the report, Mr Narhari said the school's warden and house-master should be in know, as the boy had complained to the management about the harassment which was going on for 10 days. If the hostel's house-master or warden are not aware, then it points to "gross mismanagement and negligence," he added.
On August 22, the boy, son of Bihar cooperatives minister Jai Kumar Singh, was admitted in a hospital in Delhi. The minister told PTI that school officials claimed his son had tried to kill himself.
"But, I strongly dispute this," he was quoted as saying. "Even doctors attending on him at Apollo hospital said it does not seems a case of suicide but that of a case of him being throttled," he alleged.
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has taken up the matter with his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan, urging him to get the incident probed and punish the culprits.
The school management said it had formed a committee to investigate the matter and has promised appropriate action.