Sunday Times 2
Boy beaten by headteacher
View(s):Eight-year-old child blinded in one eye because father couldn’t pay school fees
By Rajat Rai
Even before he is old enough to understand life, eight-year-old Jaideep has been taught a lesson by his school he will remember until he dies.
Now lying in a bed, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he has lost his left eye, the class one student is unable to understand why he was brutally thrashed by his school principal.
The young boy cannot understand the harsh reality: That he lost his eye because of his father’s inability to pay a meagre amount in school fees.
Sickening: Eight-year-old Jaideep was allegedly thrashed by his school principal over unpaid school fees
Jaideep’s father had been unable to deposit the fees due to financial constraints and had asked the principal for some time to arrange the money.
However, about a week ago, the principal of the local A S Memorial Public College in Bulandshahar district allegedly thrashed the little one so brutally that Jaideep lost the vision in his left eye.
“There was a swelling around his left eye and we took him to the Aligarh Medical College where he was admitted for five days. The doctors told us that he has lost his eyesight after being hit by a heavy object on his head,” his father Upendra Singh said.
“I was not able to deposit his fees for the past six months and asked the principal for two more weeks to deposit the fee. However, he beat my son so badly that his left eye lost its vision”, Singh alleged.
The family also claims that the police have failed to register their complaint until now.
“I went to the police station to register a complaint against the principal and the school authorities, but they chased us away due to the influence of the principal in the city,” Jaideep’s grandfather Indrapal Singh said.
The police said the incident is being probed.
“We have come to know about the matter and it is being investigated. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty and we will lodge an FIR once the investigation is over,” SP (rural) Vijay Gautam told Mail Today.
The police are yet to register a case.
The management of the school has advanced another theory about how the young boy got his injuries.
“The boy left school in the school van and had a scuffle with another student en route. This might be the reason behind his wounds,” the principal of the school, Jagan Sharma, clarified to the media.
Meanwhile, as the probe is apparently on and the family is trying to cope with the loss, Jaideep has been unable to overcome his new-found fear of school for the past week.
© Daily Mail, London
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