Accused of negligence that led to death of class IV student
A day after class IV student, M. Ranjan of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan in K.K. Nagar, drowned in the school swimming pool, city police arrested Sheela Rajendra (51), deputy dean & director and correspondent of the PSBB Group of Schools, on Friday. She was later released on bail.
Around 8 p.m., a police team took Ms. Rajendra into custody from her residence on North Crescent Road, T. Nagar. She was taken to K.K. Nagar police station and produced before a magistrate.
A case has been booked under Section 304 (A) (causing death by negligence). Police said she was arrested as adequate safety precautions were not in place at the pool.
Earlier on Friday, a police team took control of the pool as part of the probe and barred school staff from entering the area until the probe was over.
Police also questioned the principal of the school, Indira Vaidyanathan, and other staff members on Friday.
The accident took place around 9.30 a.m. on Thursday when Ranjan was attending the swimming class. He did a few laps in the pool and collapsed while getting out of the pool. His coach and other staff members rushed him to a hospital where he was declared ‘brought dead’. K.K. Nagar police registered a case of death by negligence and arrested five persons including the swimming coach, physical trainer and contractor of the pool. All of them were released on bail.
A senior police officer said the case was being looked at from two angles — one, whether the coaches and staff members made any attempts to rescue the boy immediately after he collapsed, and two, if they failed to notice the child collapse inside the pool and realised only later, when they did a head count for the 26 children who took part in the swimming class, that Ranjan was missing.
“We expect the post-mortem report to be ready in three days. This will give exact details on the cause of Ranjan’s death. Accordingly, we will proceed further with a detailed probe,” said an investigating officer.
At Ranjan’s home
Speaking to The Hindu on Friday, after Ranjan’s funeral, his father K.N.R. Manohar said he was unaware of what exactly happened. “I have heard many versions. The school authorities told me he swallowed a lot of water while swimming. But I’m waiting for the post-mortem report. At this point, I’m not blaming anyone,” said the film director who was in tears.
Grief-struck relatives and acquaintances consoled Mr. Manohar and his wife Radhika, who were seen clutching Ranjan’s photographs and a conduct certificate awarded to him from school recently.
The couple said Ranjan enjoyed swimming and loved playing cricket. “He was in good health and left the house cheerfully on Thursday morning with his sister Snehita, who also studies in the same school. Some media reports that suggested Ranjan suffered from epilepsy are not true,” the father said.
Monday holiday for school
The school authorities have declared a holiday on Monday for all branches of the school.
Keywords: swimming accident, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan
My heart felt condolences to Ranjan's family. I can completely understand the feelings of Ranjan's family.
On this subject, People will talk all logic as long it does not affect them. If people or kids die due to negligence, the management is and should be held responsible. If Zion and Sathyabama deans got arrested, why there should be a different yardstick for PSBB head.
She ie sheila rajendra should be held accountable.
The buck should stop with heads. If they do not want to be held responsible, let them leave thier current jobs and make way for other capable people. If the Railway or Airline minister is not held accountable that is failure of the system which needs to be fixed. Just because there is a loophole in government departments, it does not mean others like PSBB principle can escape through the same route.
i am an old student of psbb (1984 batch). i came to know of this news thru my batchmates on groupmail. during our time we had absolutely no games facility and playground at all. today however everything is available , even an expensive swimming pool. however managment of these facilites is as important as having them.
as a father of 2 school going children, i can understand the feelings of the parents of the drowned student.
i hope lessons can be learnt from this incident so that such disasters dont happen again.
Arrest is required only if the suspect would flee or is suspected to
tamper with evidence. In the case of Sathaybama, other than those
responsible, founder and chancellor (Jeppiyar) was arrested from
hospital and denied bail. In the case of PSBB, deputy deen is arrested
and granted bail immediately. Is there a different rule of law in
Kancheepuram ? Why wasn't founder, dean & director of PSBB arrested ?
Arresting people (including the Metro Rail incident) to appease
sentiments is a wrong precedent.
The incident is an unfortunate one. the pyschology of the students studying in the campus, will have to be reckoned , while making use of this facility in the future.This is the scenario in most of the public schools in our country. Once you establish a name, there is no one to question them. Fear factor sets in with the parents. Parents of the students studying in such schools are too afraid to raise issues of concern. Right from the day one, the kid is admitted in Pre kg level, the level of tension , a parent has to undergo in such schools, cannot be described adequately. The way the parents are humiliated, when their tiny tot does not speak in English or slow in picking up their lessons, even at the Pre kg or LKG level, has to be seen to be believed. they will talk so big about patriotism, respect to elders and so on but when the child speaks in his/her mother tongue and not in English, that is the end of the world for the ward and parent.they need to answer the law.
Railway and Airlines were not owned by Ministers. Also they follow certain laid out guidelines. Here the role of the Ministers is for policy making and not to interfere in day-today administration. But, the institute owners lethargic attitude ends up in such fatal situations and those things could be easily avoided. So, bringing them under the scanner and punishing them according to law is a must.
As such when the school had outsourced the swimming pool, there should have been one more person from the school management present to monitor the swimming pool and report directly to the management. This has not been done. This is a CRIMINAL ACT.
Also it is a pity that none of the school teachers had visited the family and consoled them about the incident. The teachers are deemed to be called as party-in-crime or criminals as they are very much irresponsible.
Also let us not forget or forgive those teachers(criminals)whose irresponsibility resulted in the tragic death of 98 children in the KUMBAKONAM school fire accident, still those criminals are at large and still not arrested.
From now on there will be conditions for the schools to explain why such irresponsible acts are committed (by both the management and the teachers). Getting money by fleecing the students and parents should stop.
Railway accident happened. Was Railway minister arrested? Aircraft
crashed in Mangalore runway. Was Civil aviation minister arrested? Zion
school and Sathyababa group incidents are equally unfortunate and no
dean and management make half-baked efforts in ensuring safety. PSBB is
a top school in the country and their safety norms are world class. I
think we can react after the postmortem report instead of expressing
emotionally now. My heartfelt condolences to the family of Master
Ranjan.
the real culprit is the coach ,what was he doing while the child was swimming ,was he watching how much amount of water the child is drinking ,if a coach is unable to differentiate weather the child is swimming or collapsing then he is unfit to be a coach, the child wouldint have drowned if the coach was present and monitored him,weather the coach did his duty or not only a true and genuine investigation will reveal,this incident shoud be a warning for coaches who are negligent unless and until a student is out of the swimming pool the coach should be present there watching his activities.
Rajdeep, Zion case was booked under non-bailable offense. But, this PSBB case was booked under a very weak bailable offense. So, the magistrate has no option but to release them. The High-court verdict on Tuesday might turn the table. Yet to see what's really going to happen. Justice to the little Kid was still pending due to high level pressure
Ms. Rajendra is Released on Bail within few Minutes of arrest...why
same was Not done in case Zion correspondent arrest ??
my name is Rajkumar working as a swimming coach at Balakrishna Matric Hr.Sec.School. Vadakangulam. Tirunelveli. really i feel sad for that my point of view swimming coach and life guard and the management these are main role. management should provide all necessary needs like life guards. minimum 20 students 1 life guard management should provide. and also coach eye should be attention all the students. and also coach should complete swimming course like N.I.S and Experience is must.
Its a shame on the part of this school and managment. If they can not take adequate precautions, what for they have a swimming pool inside school? Its a case of criminal act and murder on the principal/director but not negligence.
The head teacher should take responsibility and the person who is incharge of the swimming pool should be held for manslaughter.
Apart from taking action on the concerned people one has to raise the question " what have learned from this mistake" what action shoud the directorate of schoolstake to prevent such incidents in future.
Please should public join together till justice is obtained.
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