Thrashed by teacher, child may lose vision

NEW DELHI: A teacher at a private school in southeast Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh thrashed a 10-year-old boy, severely injuring him in the left eye, as he had failed to complete his maths homework. The teacher, Nasreen, has been expelled from the school. The parents allege that the child may lose vision in his left eye permanently.
The child, Mudasir Shakeel, a student of Class III, returned home last Tuesday with a security guard looking frightened and disoriented.“He complained of severe pain in his left eye after which we rushed to Holy Family Hospital. A surgery was carried out and doctors said that he might lose his vision permanently,” said the child’s father Shakeel Ahmed, a cloth merchant near Jamia Nagar.
Later, the parents went to the school and sought an explanation from the principal. “However, the principal refused to cooperate and did not even extend financial help for Mudasir’s treatment. We then registered a case against Nasreen under IPC Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) at Jamia Nagar police station,” said Ahmed.
The school principal, Parveen Ara, said the teacher has been expelled as the child’s injury was her fault. “The family is exaggerating the case. When the incident occurred, we tried calling them multiple times, but they didn’t receive our call,” she said.
The boy’s family said that Mudasir already had a weak left eye and had undergone two surgeries in the past. In 2011, the child had hurt his left eye while playing in front of an air cooler at home. This was followed by a cataract operation at AIIMS.
“The parents never told us about the medical condition of the boy. We were ready to help the family financially, but they didn’t approach us and instead filed a police case. We were ready to foot the surgery bill that was about Rs 30,000,” Parveen said.