A four-year-old student of the government elementary school at Jaidpur Sekhwan, five kilometers from here, died of electrocution on the school premises on Wednesday. Shane Masih, son of a brick-kiln labourer couple, tried to drink water from a tap and got electrocuted because of a leaking electrical wire.
Shane’s mother, Sonia, told Hindustan Times, “We got the news at around 11 a.m. and rushed to the school, which is barely 500 metres from our workplace. We saw our child lying dead and people, including the school staff, gathered around his body as mute spectators.”
Sonia’s husband Parvinder held the school responsible for the death of his child, saying that although the students had informed the authorities about the leaking wire a few days ago, they had done nothing about it. He said, “Even after my son was electrocuted, they did not rush him to a doctor or inform us. We came to know about the occurrence about an hour later.”
After a doctor confirmed death, the parents rushed Shane to the civil hospital in Batala where he was declared brought dead. District Education Officer (Primary) Shindo Sahni, however, claimed Shane was not a student of the school. She said he could have accompanied his five-year-old brother Akash to the school.
But Sonia said Shane had started going to the school about two months ago and that, too, after consultation with a teacher, who had assured her that he would be formally registered later.
{{/usCountry}}But Sonia said Shane had started going to the school about two months ago and that, too, after consultation with a teacher, who had assured her that he would be formally registered later.
{{/usCountry}}District police chief Naresh Arora said the police had registered a case of unnatural death and action would be taken once cause of death was established in the post-mortem on Thursday.