Corporal punishment leaves child crippled

bangalore: even for supporters of corporal punishment to discipline children, this story will come as a rude shock. six-year-old v. sharath kumar, from st don bosco school in b. narayanapura near whitefield, was hit and made to kneel down for a long time for talking continuously in class. the result: the child is crippled in the limbs. if not for timely medical intervention, he would have remained that way for a lifetime.but in the present condition, with over a lakh of rupees spent on his treatment, it will take him two years to get back to his original naughty self. according to the discharge summary given by dr rita singh, the consultant at the department of paediatrics, manipal hospital, ``this child developed a sudden inability to stand up after he was made to kneel down for eight hours on january 22 as punishment. as he was unable to stand after the punishment, he had to be carried home. the child was unable to move his lower limbs by the next morning. he was unable to sit or stand.'''' after being rejected by many hospitals, sharath was admitted to the icu of manipal hospital on january 21 and remained there till february 5. the problem has been diagnosed as gullian-barre syndrome, a disease caused by the inflammation of spinal cord. it involves various nerves of the body and causes paralysis. ``there are numerous causes for this and one of them is intense stress,'''' dr meera ramakrishana, paediatric intensivist, wrote in the medical report. the school, permitted (not recognised) by the karnataka government, teaches up to second standard. its headmistress rajakumari denied that sharath was beaten. ``we give `cuts'' (rap on the knuckles) only to first-standard students, and not to kindergarten students.'''' sharath, who studied in ukg, was beaten badly twice before in two years by rajakumari. ``the first time his head was swollen and the second time he was hit on his right hand and could not write for a week,'''' say his parents vasanth kumar, a carpenter, and uma, who works in arvind garments. in contrast to rajakumari''s version, class teacher sujatha susan, who has gone on a two-month leave since early february, says sharath was made to kneel down. ``he is very naughty and on that day i referred him to the headmistress who punished him.'''' sharath''s parents say not much action has been taken since the filing of an fir at the mahadevapura police station on march 3. ``we filed the complaint only after the child was brought home from the hospital,'''' says uma. the writer at mahadevapura police station says the file has been sent to the courts for follow-up. little sharath wants to go back to school. ``rajakumari miss made me stand like this,'''' he says trying to pose like a chair. and to think that this happened in a school named after st don bosco, whom we pray to for good health.