Sooramangalam Police on Wednesday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the principal and two persons of Sky Kids Public School, in Old Sooramangalam, for allegedly caning a seven-year-old boy about a week ago.
The police have invoked sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 294 (B) (use of obscene words in or near a public place) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The victim K. Shyam Sundar (7) was badly beaten by a teacher and two other men on October 31, accusing him of using foul language.
The FIR was, however, registered six days after the complaint was lodged after the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), officials of the District Child Protection Office and the parents stepped up pressure.
The Sooramangalam Police which was enquiring into the incident said that all the three persons – Priya, Rajesh and another unidentified man – against whom the parents lodged the complaint had been named in the FIR. “We have started investigations. After questioning the victim, his schoolmates and the school management, we will prepare the charge sheet in a couple of days”, they said.
Police sources said that the initial delay in registering the FIR was due to the assumption of the police authorities that parents of the victim and the private school management might settle the issue among themselves.
Suspecting that the delay was due to the fact that the school’s director Priya Eswaran was the wife of an IPS officer in Tamil Nadu and daughter of a retired police officer, the parents of the boy gave a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Salem City, K.C. Mahali on Wednesday evening.
