This Article is From Apr 30, 2009

Shanno was not made to stand in sun, say classmates

Shanno was not made to stand in sun, say classmates
New Delhi:

The MCD school teacher, accused of meting out corporal punishment to Shanno which lead to her death, made her squat but did not make her stand in the sun with bricks on her shoulders, her classmates have told police.

So far, police have recorded the statements of around 40 students of the MCD school in Outer Delhi's Bawana, who have given their versions of the incident.

Majority of the statements, however, contradict the allegations made by Shanno's family that the 11-year-old was made to stand in sun for two hours with bricks on her shoulders, police sources said.

They said that the students told investigators that Shanno and three others were made to squat by their teacher Manju for about 10 to 15 minutes but it was not in the sun.

Shanno Khan, a Class-II student, had slipped into comma after Manju punished her and died on April 17.

When contacted DCP (Outer) Atul Katiyar refused to comment saying the investigation is not yet complete.

A senior police official, however, maintained that they are yet to find any concrete evidence against the teacher with regard to corporal punishment leading to Shanno's death.

"We are waiting viscera report to ascertain the cause of the girl's death and have asked the forensic laboratory to take it up on a priority basis," the official said.

The postmortem report said that Shanno might have died of epileptic seizures. There were no external injury marks on her body.

The teacher, who hails from Sonepat in Haryana, has denied that she punished Shanno or made her stand in sun for two hours.

Meanwhile Shanno's family said it would take the RTI route to know the exact cause of her death.

They said RTI applications would be filed with three hospitals - Maharashi Balmiki Hospital where she was initially admitted, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital where she was shifted and Maulana Azad Medical College, which conducted the postmortem.

Shanno's parents met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit last week and sought her intervention for a thorough probe into the incident.

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