Student thrashed over uniform

Paulomi G Mehta / TNN / Sep 22, 2007, 02:23 IST

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Not wearing the right uniform to school can have serious consequences -- as 16-year-old Hemant Prabhakar, a Class XII student of Government School in Yamuna Vihar.

NEW DELHI: Not wearing the right uniform to school can have serious consequences -- as 16-year-old Hemant Prabhakar, a Class XII student of Government Senior Secondary School in Yamuna Vihar, learnt the hard way.
Hemant was allegedly beaten up by his vice-principal for wearing "slightly different coloured trousers". On September 12, Hemant left for school to write his exam scheduled in the afternoon.
When his vice-principal V K Sharma came for the usual round of inspection, he found Hemant wearing trousers that were a shade lighter than the normal colour. Hemant claims he was slapped "five to seven times", even as the whole class looked on.
"The vice-principal pointed to the colour of my pant, and before I could even say anything, he let out half a dozen slaps on my face. I was not the only one -- in fact, he slapped some other students too, and asked for my parents to come see him the next day," recalls Hemant.

That day when Hemant returned home, crestfallen after the examination, his older sister Asha suspected something was wrong.
When Hemant told Asha about the incident, she met with the vice-principal the following afternoon, only to be put through an unpleasant encounter.
Says Asha, "I went to his school thinking it must have been Hemant's mistake. But as I talked to the vice-principal, he justified the beating, saying there was nothing wrong in it, and later told me he does not talk to students' sisters, or women, in these matters. One Mr Rathi was also present, who spoke even more rudely, and in no time a group of teachers came and started speaking against me."

When the school principal, Radheshyam, was contacted, he denied the beating ever took place. "We have to enforce discipline when students don't wear the uniform, but no one has been beaten. Also, this student was acting suspiciously, as if he was copying, so obviously we will want to call his parents." Interestingly, the allegation of copying against Hemant, was never mentioned to his sister Asha when she met the vice-principal.
Sharma, on his part, also denied he ever beat Hemant. "I am about to retire next year, why would I beat the student? Students are known to either hide facts or overstate them to protect themselves."
Asha also said that the matter hasn't stopped there. According to her, "I filed a complaint with the police, and then recently the school sent two teachers to my place, asking that I withdraw the complaint. As I was not there, they spoke to my landlady. There are enough student witnesses to what happened, I will not let this go without a fight."
(toireporter@timesgroup.com)

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