A 12-year-old student of a missionary school here succumbed to injuries after he was allegedly beaten up by seniors, police said on Thursday.
Five persons have been arrested in connection with the case. Those arrested include two students, a PT teacher, the manager of the school and a warden.
On March 10, the victim was en route to a church for Sunday prayers, along with other students, when he stole a packet of biscuits from a shop. The shopkeeper later complained to the school authorities, according to a police press release.
It said subsequently two seniors allegedly thrashed the child with a cricket bat and a wicket. Later, he was made to bathe in cold water and drink unhygienic water. He was found unconscious by the warden in the study room of the school.
When the victim was taken to HIHT Hospital, the doctors declared him dead, the release said.
"As per death memo, the child died under mysterious circumstances and probably due to some poison or food poisoning. However, after post-mortem, it was established that the child died due to internal injuries and shock," SSP Nivedita Kukreti said.
"The child was beaten by two senior students. It was also found that senior people of the school tried to hide this fact during the course of the initial inquiry. Those responsible for criminal negligence will be arrested. If we learn of some more facts, we will take action accordingly," she added.
After the interrogation of the accused, the bat and the ashes of the burnt wicket, which was used to beat the child, were found, the police said.
According to it, the accused hid the bat in PT teacher's almirah and burnt the wicket.
Uttarakhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Usha Negi questioned the role of the police and school management in the case. She expressed apprehensions about religious conversion.
"The child was buried according to Christian customs. Why his body was not handed over to the family after the post-mortem? Who is responsible for it? The issue of religious conversion also arises here," she said.
However, SSP Nivedita Kukreti said that the child was buried in front of the parents. But, she refused to confirm if the parents' consent was taken before burying him.
Negi further alleged that the children were lured on the pretext of free education. The children were mostly from poor families whose parents are mostly into begging.
"However, it now appears that they used to charge around Rs 3500 from the parents," Negi alleged.
Questioning the role of the police in the entire case, she asked as to why the chairman of the school has not been arrested yet.
"The whole issue would have been pushed under the carpet if we (Commission for Protection of Child Rights) did not exert pressure on the police," the chairperson said.
She accused the school administration of misleading the "uneducated" parents of the deceased child.
"Parents told us that their ward was beaten. Parents are not educated. They were made to sign a paper," she claimed and demanded the immediate arrest of the school's chairman.
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