BENGALURU: Tension prevailed at a residential school in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning after hundreds of relatives of a 12-year-old student, who died under suspicious circumstances, stormed the campus and allegedly vandalised school property, assaulted the physical education (PE) teacher, and threatened to set him on fire.
The relatives alleged that the student died after being assaulted by the teacher.
The deceased, Gurukiran, was a Class 6 student of Sterling English Residential School in Kadayarappanahalli. As it is a residential school, he was staying at the school hostel and was a resident of Yelahanka.
Gurukiran’s father Raghavendra told the media that he received a call from the school management around 6.45 am on Wednesday, informing him that his son had collapsed while jogging on the school campus and had been rushed to a hospital.
“When we reached the hospital, we were informed that our son had died before reaching the hospital. On enquiring with his classmates, we learnt that the physical education teacher, Narayana, allegedly assaulted him with a rod inside the washroom and also hit him on the neck. After assaulting him, the teacher allegedly forced him to run two rounds of the school campus, during which he collapsed. We believe the assault led to my son’s death,” he alleged.
Parents, classmates allege assault by PE teacher led to boy’s death
Gurukiran’s classmates also told reporters that he had gone to the toilet before the scheduled morning exercise around 5.30 am, after which the newly appointed PE teacher allegedly beat him. The students said that Gurukiran was then forced to run two rounds of the school campus despite the assault and collapsed while running. They further alleged that the teacher frequently beat students with sticks and rods over minor issues.
As hundreds of students’ relatives gathered and stormed the campus, the jurisdictional Bagaluru police were alerted. Over 20 police personnel rushed to the spot. Enraged over the student’s death, the relatives allegedly chased the PE teacher across the campus in an attempt to assault him. They had also allegedly brought half-a-litre of petrol and threatened to set him on fire. The police had a tough time controlling the mob and managed to snatch away the petrol bottle.
As the angry crowd continued chasing the teacher, the police resorted to a mild lathicharge to disperse the protesters and shifted the teacher to one of the classrooms, where he was locked inside for his safety. The protesters demanded that the police hand him over to them. Later, when the police attempted to escort the teacher out in a Hoysala patrol vehicle, the protesters blocked the vehicle by sitting in front of it and again demanded that he be handed over to them, threatening to set him on fire.
Yeshaswini, Gurukiran’s mother, said their son had joined the residential school a year ago and had resumed classes for his second academic year only a month ago.
“He called me on Monday night and asked me to buy him a new school uniform and a pair of shoes as the new academic session had begun. He was active and healthy. He had no history of any heart-related ailment or any other health issues,” she said, rejecting any suggestion that her son’s death was due to a cardiac problem while running during the early morning exercise.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) GK Mithun told TNIE that based on a complaint filed by the child’s parents, a case has been registered under Section 106 (murder) of the BNS at the Bagaluru police station. “The complaint alleges that the student died following the assault by the PE teacher. The PE teacher is being questioned. Further action will be taken after questioning other students and faculty members and based on the postmortem report,” he said.