Hyderabad A three-member team, constituted by the Andhra Pradesh government, on Friday began a probe into the circumstances leading to the death of a six-year-old student of a private school in Visakhapatnam, after he was slapped by her class teacher for not doing his homework on Thursday, officials familiar with the matter said.
The committee comprising regional joint director of education B Vijay Bhaskar, district education officer N Prem Kumar and Visakhapatnam revenue divisional officer Dileep Chakravarthy visited Little Garden School near One-Town Kotha Road area in the morning.
“The committee questioned the school authorities and also the teacher, who allegedly slapped the student, leading to his death,” an official of the school education department said.
The committee members also went through the CCTV footage from the school as part of the inquiry, which showed the teacher allegedly pulling the student close to her, adjusting his uniform and slapping the student on his cheek.
Meanwhile, the police said they were yet to receive the post-mortem report from the King George Hospital (KGH), Visakhapatnam, to ascertain the exact cause of the death.
“We have not yet gotten the autopsy report. The viscera were sent for forensic examination to find out whether the boy had any other internal problems. We will be able to tell the exact cause only after obtaining the report,” Visakhapatnam city One-Town police inspector Pudi Varaprasad told HT.
{{/usCountry}}“We have not yet gotten the autopsy report. The viscera were sent for forensic examination to find out whether the boy had any other internal problems. We will be able to tell the exact cause only after obtaining the report,” Visakhapatnam city One-Town police inspector Pudi Varaprasad told HT.
{{/usCountry}}KGH superintendent Dr I Vani also feigned ignorance about the post-mortem report of the boy. “The forensic authorities of the hospital directly send the report to the police online. Not everything comes to my notice,” she said.
Varaprasad said the body of the boy was handed over to the family for last rites on Friday morning, after the post-mortem. “Fow now, we have registered a case of suspicious death. Based on the findings of the post-mortem examination, we may alter the sections in the case,” he said.
Meanwhile, the school education department of Andhra Pradesh has termed the incident as extremely unfortunate and painful. ‘’The government is taking this incident seriously.’’ said the education department in a statement, adding that the three-man committee would examine the facts thoroughly.
The department also said that steps are being taken to organize necessary sensitisation programs so that teachers deal with students sensitively, responsibly and with humanity. “The officials concerned have been instructed to take all necessary steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents. Further appropriate steps will be taken based on the report of the three-man committee,” it added.