annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 West Bengal
caused mental trauma. 34
However, the day the High Court
delivered its jugdement, two students of
class I - Sujan and Sadhan Das - of a
primary school at Adisaptagram in
Hooghly district were reportedly locked
inside an iron chest as punishment for
being inattentive in the class. The teacher,
Chandan Ghosh first dragged the students
into the office of the Principal, but not
finding him in, he allegedly locked them in
an iron chest and went home. When the
school was about to close for the day,
some employees heard sounds of loud
sobbing coming from the chest, in which
exercise books were usually stored. They
broke the chest and rescued the school
children! 35
On 13 February 2004, six-year-old
Ishani Bhattacharya, a student of Class I in
Sunny Preparatory School in Behala was
reportedly brutally canned by her teacher,
Kasturi Ghosh for not obeying the order to
‘put their heads down the table’. The
punishment traumatised the little girl so
much that she refused to go to school
again. Her father, Pradip Bhattacharya
reportedly filed a complaint with the
Behala police station, but no action was
taken. Kasturi Ghosh however denied the
allegation stating that she was not present
in the school and the school administrator
R.K. Bharatiya backed the teacher.
Ishani’s medical report, however, stated
that she had suffered “haematoma” in two
places on her back and an “overlying
abrasion”. This, doctors said, was an
injury that could only be caused by a
266
“stick-like” object. 36
On 20 February 2004, 15-year-old
Tanya Sarkar, a student of Class VIII of
Vidya Niketan, a private Bengali-medium
school in Thakurpukur, Kolkata was
forced by her class teacher Sanjit Bose to
perform 150 squats under the scorching
sun as a punishment for talking in the
class. Her friends were asked to keep the
count. It was a hot day and after having
finished performing about a hundred
squats in the sun, she fainted. Once she
regained consciousness, the school
authorities informed her parents. She was
taken to a local hospital. Her father Asit
Sarkar said she suffered from dehydration.
The humiliation she suffered in presence
of the whole school also traumatized her.
Later, on the same day, the parent of the
victim lodged a police complaint against
Sanjit Bose. 37
On 10 July 2004, Minhajul Haque, a
Class X student of a municipal high school
in Burdwan, was reportedly beaten
senseless by the Headmaster Madan
Mohan Roy. Worst, the Headmaster forced
the victim to kneel down for over an hour
after he regained consciousness! He had to
be hospitalized after the ordeal. Doctors
said Minhajul’s injuries were serious.
Minhajul Haque was reportedly punished
for remaining absent from his classes for
four consecutive days. When he resumed
school on 10 July 2004 he reportedly
brought a letter from his father, Ohidul,
saying that he had taken ill. But the class
teacher demanded a medical certificate
from him. His father took his son to the