KOCHI: The incident that caused the death of Shehla Sherin, a Class V student of the Government Sarvajana Higher Secondary School in Sultan Bathery, on November 20 was only a suspected case of snakebite and no postmortem was conducted to prove the cause of demise, argued C V Shajil, the schoolteacher who has been arraigned first accused in the case. Shajil and vice-principal K K Mohanan approached the Kerala High Court on Wednesday seeking anticipatory bail apprehending arrest in the case.
Shajil is the first accused in the case registered by the Sulthan Bathery police under sections 304 A (causing death by negligence) and 34 of IPC R/W Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 (Care and Protection of Children). Shajil submitted that he is the class teacher of 6A. After the incident, Shehla was in a state of shock as other students unintentionally screamed that she was bitten by a snake. To calm the situation, Shajil said he asked all students to go to their classes.
He wanted to disperse the students so as to help the injured girl get some fresh air. In the meantime, another teacher, Shanmughan, rushed to the scene and decided to take the child to the taluk hospital in his car. When Shanmughan went to the staff room to fetch the car key, Shehala’s father came in an autorikshaw and took her to the Assumption Mission Hospital, Shajil stated in his petition.
Later, she was shifted to the government taluk hospital. A preliminary test was conducted in the hospital and the report was negative (indicating no presence of venom in the blood.) K K Mohanan is the third accused in the case. While the prosecution alleged that he neglected the injured girl, the vice-principal said the sequences of events stated in the suo motu case registered by the police were totally incorrect and that he has been falsely implicated.