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Parents of 4 students who drowned in Chaskaman a year ago demand SIT probe
On May 19, 2022 a group of 32 students along with four teachers went for an outing to Chaskaman Dam after their Class 10 exams. During this visit, four students drowned
Parents of four students, who drowned in the backwaters of the Chaskaman Dam, a year ago, have now demanded a probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
On May 19, 2022 a group of 32 students along with four teachers went for an outing to Chaskaman Dam after their Class 10 exams. During this visit, four students drowned.
In a statement released on Monday, the deceased parents K Dhanasekar and Devaki Dhanasekar, Kuldip Agarwal, Harshad Desai and Shamika Desai, Pradhnesh Bhonsale and Sujata Bhonsale, claimed that the dominating narrative of the school has been that the 32 minor children insisted on going to the backwaters and waded in it for some time, when a strong current suddenly pulled everyone in leading to the unfortunate drowning of four students.
Following the incident, the police had filed an FIR against the four teachers and the school authorities under section 304(II) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, no arrests were made, the parents stated.
According to the statement released by the parents, “The chargesheet not only parrots the same narrative, but has failed to establish who were the school authorities that granted permission for the students to be taken to the backwaters.”
“Therefore we (parents), have filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court asking for the constitution of a SIT to conduct a complete, comprehensive, unbiased and fair investigation, with the hope for justice for our children whose hopes and dreams were cut short by this needless and completely avoidable tragedy,” the parents said through a statement.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Pune Rural, Mitesh Ghatte said, “The chargesheet has been submitted in the case and I will have to ask further details from the investigating officers in the case.”
According to the parents, the teachers did not take permission from parents for the outing. The Chaskaman Dam is a declared as a danger zone, and students were taken there without any safety gear or equipment. The area where the incident occurred is remote – getting people, ambulances and help was difficult and time consuming, this at a time when every minute mattered. Additionally, there was an IMD warning of a stormy weather in the area was issued for May 18-20. The school as well as the site of the incident hardly had mobile coverage. Despite all this, the outing was planned by the school l that has operated in the area for almost 27 years, the parents claimed.
