Guwahati:
Two teachers missing, a 12-year-old dead - a school in Guwahati is staying closed as parents, the administration, and several young children try to digest those facts.
Mousham Raj Mahanta died in hospital, allegedly because of injuries caused by his computer teacher, and the vice-principal of Saraswati Shiksha Niketan, which is privately-run. The class VI student, his classmates say, was beaten by them for not doing his homework.
When he went home that evening, Mousham told his parents about what had transpired. His knees, where he had been repeatedly beaten, were badly bruised.
Mousham was first being treated at local clinics but was later shifted to the GNRC hospital. The doctors who treated him are unable to clarify whether the child had any pre-existing medical condition.
The teachers have gone missing. The principal has been taken into custody.
"The teachers had absconded when they realised the critical nature of the patient even before it was brought to the notice of the police. Now the search is on," says Partha Mahanta, a police officer investigating Mousham's death.
"If the guilty cannot be punished, then give me back my son," says Mousham's mother, Geetanjali. Before dying, she says, her son kissed her and said he wanted to grow up so he could look after her.
Mousham's older brother holds his mother as she describes the son she lost.
Assam holds the record for the state with the maximum cases of corporal punishment in schools.
The state government has enacted a law banning corporal punishment, and teachers can be prosecuted on criminal charges, if they are found guilty.
Mousham Raj Mahanta died in hospital, allegedly because of injuries caused by his computer teacher, and the vice-principal of Saraswati Shiksha Niketan, which is privately-run. The class VI student, his classmates say, was beaten by them for not doing his homework.
When he went home that evening, Mousham told his parents about what had transpired. His knees, where he had been repeatedly beaten, were badly bruised.
Mousham was first being treated at local clinics but was later shifted to the GNRC hospital. The doctors who treated him are unable to clarify whether the child had any pre-existing medical condition.
The teachers have gone missing. The principal has been taken into custody.
"The teachers had absconded when they realised the critical nature of the patient even before it was brought to the notice of the police. Now the search is on," says Partha Mahanta, a police officer investigating Mousham's death.
"If the guilty cannot be punished, then give me back my son," says Mousham's mother, Geetanjali. Before dying, she says, her son kissed her and said he wanted to grow up so he could look after her.
Mousham's older brother holds his mother as she describes the son she lost.
Assam holds the record for the state with the maximum cases of corporal punishment in schools.
The state government has enacted a law banning corporal punishment, and teachers can be prosecuted on criminal charges, if they are found guilty.
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