Girl lying in coma dies

Rinky Kaushik, student of Dinkar National Model School, was allegedly hit by her teacher Dhirendra Kumar Dinkar on November 10 when she refused to attend his tuition classes.

The 15-year-old schoolgirl, who had been lying unconscious in a hospital here for the last three months after she was allegedly hit on the head with a stick by her teacher, has died.

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Rinky Kaushik, student of Dinkar National Model School in East Delhi, was allegedly hit by her teacher Dhirendra Kumar Dinkar on November 10 when she refused to attend his tuition classes.

She died at Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, where she had been lying in coma for the last three months, around 11 pm last night and was cremated later in the evening today.

Police said Dinkar, who is out on bail in the matter, had remained in touch with them but is absconding since Kaushik's death.

"We are waiting for the post-mortem report of the victim. Further action will be taken once the report is out," DCP East Ajay Chaudhry said, adding charges under a new section could be added in the FIR based on the outcome of the report.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Thursday announced a compensation of Rs one lakh to the family of the deceased and said, "we will look into the matter and give all possible help to the victim's family."

Kaushik, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase III in East Delhi, was first admitted in a government hospital but was later shifted to the ICU of Maharaja Agrasen Hospital at Punjabi Bagh when her condition worsened on January seven.

Dr M S Gupta, CEO of the hospital, said Kaushik had developed severe chest infection. The girl's family claimed that Kaushik's condition worsened after tracheotomy was performed on her last week.

"Her condition worsened after the last week's operation," claimed a family member. "She developed the problem in her brain after being beaten by the teacher. She had never complained about any problem related to her brain before," the family member said.

Earlier, a three-member team of Delhi Government's Education Department which had been formed to probe into the incident, had found that the allegations levelled against the teacher were not only true but the school was violating several norms.

Acting on the report, the Government had derecognised the school.

Kaushik's parents reportedly approached the police on November 15, but the police registered the FIR against the accused only three months later.

The FIR was registered under section 325 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation).