What appears to have been a skirmish between school students over a lunchbox has escalated into a court case.
A group of students had stopped going to school fearing police action for having eaten the lunch of their classmate. Justice T.S. Sivagnanam of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the students to attend school pending adjudication of the petition filed by a parent of one of them. The court had earlier directed the headmaster to permit them to attend classes.
The petitioner submitted that on October 15, her son and four others, studying in Standard XII in Government Higher Secondary School, Chunambedu, Kancheepuram district, were said to have opened the lunchbox of a fellow student and taken his food. The class teacher complained to the headmaster, who in turn reported the matter to Chunambedu police. A police team headed by the Inspector and Sub-Inspector questioned the five students in the headmaster’s room. The petitioner alleged that the Inspector beat the students. They were taken to the police station and later released.
The petitioner said the police warned the students that they should never go to school. If they went, they would be arrested and sent to prison. Fearing arrest, the students stopped going to school.
The petitioner said she had made a representation to the education department to take steps to enable the students to continue their education. No action was taken. Hence, the petition.
Mr. Justice Sivagnanam said that in spite of granting three adjournments to enable the headmaster to reply as to whether the children were prevented from attending school, no reply had been filed. Hence, it was appropriate to direct the students to attend school, pending the writ petition.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on February 17.
A group of students had stopped going to school fearing police action for eating their classmate’s lunch
