Delhi: Minor slapped, moves court against teacher

A Class 5 girl has moved the Delhi high court against her teacher for slapping and humiliating her in front of her entire class after she came to school with two pony tails, a lawyer said on Saturday.

A Class 5 student has moved the Delhi high court after being slapped and suspended for coming to school with two ponytails.

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In her petition filed before Chief Justice G Rohini, the girl called Pooja has challenged her suspension as being “illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory, unjust, unfair, unconstitutional, and anti-child”. She has said the action by Mayo International in Patparganj was in contravention of several provisions of law, including Delhi School Education Act, 1973 and the Right to Education Act, 2009.

Pooja — an economically weaker section student (EWS) of the school for the past seven years — has accused the school of arbitrarily stopping her from attending classes. She says the school suspended her because her mother stood up to a teacher who slapped her in front of her class for having two ponytails.

The petition is likely to come up for hearing on Monday.

According to the petition filed through her lawyer Ashok Agarwal, the girl’s mother approached the teacher on November 22, a day after the girl had been humiliated. However, the teacher grew furious about this and told her that she shouldn’t come with “frivolous complaints” as the school was merely “obliging them”. The principal and manager also allegedly joined the teacher and threatened the parent to expel the child from school and instructed the gate-keeper to force the mother out of the school premises, the petition added.

On the same day, the girl was summoned to the school lobby. There the school officials asked her about her “father and how much he earns” before handing her the suspension letter.