Police book principal of Kharghar school where a special child was lost and found

The principal of a Kharghar-based CBSE school, who refused to show CCTV footage to the parents of a special child who had gone missing for some time in July, has been booked under the Juvenile Justice Act

The principal of a Kharghar-based CBSE school, who refused to show CCTV footage to the parents of a special child who had gone missing for some time in July, has been booked under the Juvenile Justice Act. The child was later found in the peons’ changing room.

Image for representation

On July 11, when the mother went to pick the seven-year-old up after school, she was told by a teacher that the child should henceforth be sent with a shadow teacher, police officials said. When she enquired, the teacher said that the child had gone missing during school hours for 20 minutes.

The parents went to meet the principal on July 23. As per the complaint filed by the parents, they wanted to see the CCTV footage of that day to understand what had happened but the principal denied the request. The parents have also claimed that while a teacher informed them that the child was missing for about one-and-a-half hours, the principal claimed that it was only for 20 minutes. On August 13, the parents met the regional head of the school who said that they could henceforth have the mother as the shadow teacher.

Finally, the parents approached the Child Welfare Committee of Raigad district which directed the Kharghar police to register an FIR against the principal under the Juvenile Justice Act for neglecting the child’s safety.

“We have registered the case and have also issued a notice to the principal. The school staff told us that the child got lost for 20 minutes during which she took the wrong stairs and ended up in the peons’ changing room. They also claimed that they didn’t have a backup of CCTV recording for more than 10 days and hence, they couldn’t provide the footage to the parents,” senior police inspector Sandeepan Shinde said.

The principal has been booked under section 75 (whoever, having the actual charge of, or control over a child, assaults, abandons, abuses, exposes or willfully neglects the child or causes or procures the child to be assaulted, abandoned, abused, exposed or neglected in a manner likely to cause such child unnecessary mental or physical suffering) of the Act.

Several calls and text messages to the regional head and the principal went unanswered.