Rawla case chargesheet in a fortnight: Police

KOLKATA: Police would file the chargesheet in the Rouvanjit Rawla case in the next fortnight, police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti said after a meeting with Shantha Sinha, chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), on Saturday.
Sinha took part in a meeting convened by chief secretary Ardhendu Sen at Writers' Buildings where the police commissioner, school education secretary Bikram Sen and social welfare secretary Rinchen Tempo were also present.The commissioner assured Sinha that police would submit its report before the Calcutta high court in the next 15 days and frame charges against the accused.
"The police commissioner has told me that charges will be framed in accordance with corporal punishment rules and relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act, IPC and West Bengal Children's Act," said Sinha.
Sinha was in the city to find out what action had been initiated by the state on the commission's recommendations in the Rouvanjit case. The Class VIII student of La Martiniere for Boys had committed suicide on February 12 by hanging himself, allegedly after being humiliated in school. Police started a case based on a complaint by Rouvanjit's family against four of his teachers and principal Sunirmal Chakravarthy, accusing them of caning the boy. The commission later recommended the removal of Chakravarthy and middle school head Gunion. It also wanted the school to stop increments of some other teachers.
Sinha said at a press conference: "The school education department is looking into the Rouvanjit Rawla suicide case. It is aware of rampant corporal punishment being inflicted on children on the pretext of discipline. We are in constant touch with the state government and have urged it to monitor private schools as well."
Officials present in the meeting told Sinha that the government was seeking legal opinion on its jurisdiction over private schools and would take action soon after. School education secretary Sen told reporters at Writers' Buildings: "Our monitoring committee can only bring to task schools under the state board. We will write to the HRD ministry to set up another state committee for CBSE and ICSE (schools)."
Sinha pointed out that in accordance with the Calcutta high court order prohibiting caning in schools, it was well within the government's purview to act against the crime. She said the matter warranted speedy response because the whole country was watching. "There should be whole-hearted action to bring the guilty to book and do justice to the victim because justice rendered in the case will be watched by the country," she said.
Sinha said after Rouvanjit's father Ajay Rawla's sought redress, several complaints related to corporal punishment reached NCPCR. Asked if the confidential report, based on which NCPCR made its recommendations, would be made public as demanded by the La Martiniere authorities, Sinha replied: "We are a judicial authority and not answerable to anyone but Parliament."