'Corporal punishment has been banned'

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday termed corporal punishment as unacceptable in a civilised society and said it has been banned under the Right to Education Act.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday termed corporal punishment as unacceptable in a civilised society and said it has been banned under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

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Sibal was reacting to the suicide case of Rauvanjit Rawla, a 13-year-old boy of Kolkata's well-known school, La Martiniere for Boys. Unable to bear harassment in school, Rawla had allegedly committed suicide in February 2010.

"It (corporal punishment) is not acceptable in a civilised society and children have to be looked upon and treated differently," Sibal said in an interview to Headlines Today.

"As you know, under the RTE Act, corporal punishment is prohibited. And I think it's time for all institutions in this country, if they have been following this kind of practice... (to understand that) it's something anarchistic, it destroys the confidence of the child. It's humiliating for the child," Sibal said.

Meanwhile, a probe team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has indicted the principal and three teachers in the case. According to the probe team, corporal punishment was rampant in the school.