SIVAGANGA: Parents of a few Class 11 students have alleged that their wards were threatened at gunpoint and beaten up by policemen inside the government-aided higher secondary school in Manamadurai.
A day after the allegations surfaced, a press statement from the office of the Superintendent of Police on Thursday refuted the charges and said personnel from the Manamadurai town police had only warned the students against involving in clashes.
Speaking to TNIE, V Babu said, “When my son returned from school on Wednesday evening, there was swelling all over his body. He told me that upon instruction of the school authorities, police personnel entered the premises and beat him up along with a few of his friends.
The police also placed a gun on the head of his friends and threatened them.” The parents also raised the allegation through social media. A source said the school had called the police after the boys whistled and ran across the premises.
One of the students told TNIE that a policeman kept a gun over his head and threatened him. “We didn’t commit any mistake, but wrongly believing that my friends and I were behind some ruckus in the school, the teachers told the police to deal with us,” he added.
Babu, however, felt that the teachers were taking revenge for something that happened during the admissions this year. “The school denied admission to a few boys to Class 11 this year.
The students took up the issue with the office of Chief Educational Officer, and the school was forced to admit the students. The teachers were very upset by this,” he said, and added that even if the kids had created a ruckus, was this the way to deal with them?
In one of the videos shared by the parents, a teacher is heard claiming that they did not call the police and the personnel came on their own. However, the press note issued by the SP’s office contradicts this. It said teachers alerted the police about a ruckus.
The police also denied the allegation that a gun was used to threaten the students. A local resident told TNIE that students in the school often broke into fights and the teachers had failed to control them.
Police deny charges
A day after the allegations surfaced, a press statement from the office of the Superintendent of Police refuted the charges and said that personnel from the Manamadurai town police had only warned the students against involving in clashes