The National Human Rights Commission has served notices on the Karnal Superintendent of Police and the Haryana Education Secretary, seeking reports on the death of a six-year-old boy who went into shock after he was kept in a dark room in a private school in Haryana as punishment and later died.
The incident happened at an English medium school at Kamela in the Gharonda sub-division. The NHRC asked the Education Secretary to inform it of the action taken by his Department.
The NHRC took the action suo motu, going by the media reports, which alleged that Pankaj Singh was allegedly locked up in a dark room on December 27, 2011 for negligence. When he did not reach home after school hours, the family went to the school and found him unconscious in the room.
The school authorities are said to have forgotten that they had detained him. Allegedly traumatised, Pankaj stopped eating properly. He was admitted to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak. After he showed signs of recovery, he was discharged and soon sent back to school.
Things were normal till he attended the class of the teacher who allegedly punished him. The boy fainted again and had to be hospitalised. He was discharged on February 11, 2012, but died the next day.
On an assurance given by the village panchayat for a truce between the parents and the school authorities, the family cremated the boy without autopsy. However, it reported the matter to the police on February 20, 2012, alleging that the school had caused his death.