Three sports coaches, school director and two former students of Asian Public School at Umra village in Hansi, 37km from Hisar, were booked for allegedly assaulting a Class 10 student over a theft complaint filed by a Class 11 student.
Those booked are wrestling coach Vikram Malik, boxing coach Naveen Sharma, school director Sanjay Malik, another coach Shashikant and two former students Sachin Kumar and Vinay. They have been booked under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
In his police complaint, the 15-year-old student, who hails from a Bhiwani village, said he took admission in Class 10 at Asian Public School on April 21 as he wanted to pursue boxing.
“A month ago, a Class 11 boy accused me of theft and planted a bottle of perfume in my bag. He started blackmailing me and sought money, threatening to take up the matter with school authorities if I didn’t conform to his demands. On July 9, coach Vikram called me to the warden’s room and started beating me up. At 11pm, I was called again to the warden’s room where Vikram, Naveen and Sanjay beat me up. I was also tortured in a water pool and made to gasp for breath by Vikram and two others,” the complainant said.
He said his phone was taken away and I narrated the incident to my parents on July 16 when they visited the school. “When we asked the school authorities to provide my ward’s school leaving certificate on July 16, they told us that they are yet to enrol him,” the boy’s mother said.
{{/usCountry}}He said his phone was taken away and I narrated the incident to my parents on July 16 when they visited the school. “When we asked the school authorities to provide my ward’s school leaving certificate on July 16, they told us that they are yet to enrol him,” the boy’s mother said.
{{/usCountry}}Mahender Singh, investigation officer at Hansi Sadar police station, said, “The student is undergoing treatment at a government hospital in Bhiwani. We have started investigation. No arrest has been made so far,” he said.
Dr Mahesh Sheoran, an orthopaedic surgeon at Bansi Lal Government Hospital, said the boy was undergoing treatment for the last three days. “There are injury marks on his body. He was brutally assaulted and there is swelling in his internal body parts too,” the doctor said.
A spokesman of Asian Public School said all the allegations made by the boy were false and baseless. “The school authorities had told his parents to take him back as he was involved in theft. He had also admitted to his mistake,” the spokesman claimed.
Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (HSCPCR) chairman Jyoti Bainda could not be reached for a comment despite repeated phone calls and text messages.