Andhra Pradesh - Eluru   

School assailed on student deaths

Photo: AVG Prasad

Mother’s anguish: Puppala Sivalakshmi, mother of Durga Pavan, a class VI student, who died allegedly due to corporal punishment, before a Commission of Inquiry at Eluru on Monday.

ELURU: Tempers ran high between the parents and the representatives of the management of the city-based Siddhartha Public School during a public inquiry conducted by a three-member committee constituted by the district administration on the reported death of several students on its campus here on Monday.

The victims’ parents expressed ire over the alleged fake witnesses produced by the school management in its bid to `cover up’ its role in the death of students. The inquiry was necessitated to clear the air of suspicion over the student deaths. As many as seven students reportedly died under suspicious circumstances on the school campus during its 18 years of history.

The corporate school came under public scrutiny last year following the death of two students—Lingamsetti Panduranga Deepesh, a class VII student, Puppala Durga Pavan, a class VI student—within a span of one month, forcing the Government to cancel the school recognition and go into the facts leading to the mysterious deaths.

It turned out to be a show of strength with the school management deploying its own of `brand’ of witnesses to depose before the panel in its favour. When a section of witnesses allegedly sponsored by the corporate school tried to depose in favour of the management on the student deaths, a clash ensued between them and the victims’ parents. Parents claimed to have caught red handed one of the management representative who allegedly entered the venue of inquiry in the guise of a mediaman to `influence’ the witnesses.

Kotaru Sulochana, a parent was booed and greeted with protest by the victims’ families when she, claiming to be a witness and deposed before the committee stating that the school teacher, Rajesh, who was arrested by the police for allegedly beating Durga Pavan leading to his death, was not at all on the scene. However, the students introduced by the school management for deposition, gave a different version which did not match with the statement of Ms. Sulochana on the role of the particular teacher. Meanwhile, L. Satyanarayana and Puppalla Srinivas, parents of Deepesh and Pavan, assailed the administration for its failure to do justice to them even 10 months after the death of their children.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

School assailed on student deaths
Delay in water release worries ryots
Bogus ration cards to be eliminated
Women greet Maor with protest
False case against MLA, says TDP team

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu