20 students beaten up in Arunachal school; children’s panel expresses anguish

Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (APSCPCR) on Monday expressed anguish over corporal punishment meted out to 20 children in a school in the state recently.

APSCPCR member secretary Khoda Rakhi who visited the school at Seijosa in Pakke Kessang district during the day along with senior officials to inquire into the matter said the in-charge of the school should be arrested.

The trust which runs the school has terminated the service of the in-charge.

During the inquiry, the team which included Seijosa additional deputy commissioner T R Tapu, sub-divisional police officer S C Norbu, Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member Nabam Petru, interacted with the victims as well as their parents.

The team found that 20 students from Class 1 to 4, were subjected to physical abuse by the school in-charge Sadhvi Devkriti during class hours on December 7, Rakhi said in a statement, here.

The students were also threatened with dire consequences if the incident was reported to their parents, she said.

The parents learnt of the matter when they saw bruises on their children's body, she added.

The secretary general of the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust which runs the school terminated the services of Sadhvi Devkriti on December 10.

The commission, however, has said that terminating the service is not enough.

"She should be immediately arrested and booked under appropriate sections of law and awarded appropriate punishment," the APSCPCR said in the statement.

The commission has been from time to time submitting recommendations to the state government for strict verification of character antecedents of all the employees under both government and private educational institutes to minimise such instances of violation of child rights.

The commission stated that the Acharyakulam School has not yet been registered though it has been running since 2019.

The panel sought strict action by the education department against the management of the school.