My mother is mad, says Afsana’s son

Parents of children attending Purva Playschool and Nursery have alleged that principal Priyanka Nikam had opened another branch in Kamothe in Navi Mumbai, and would often go there leaving the children at the mercy of caretaker Afsana Shaikh at Kharghar.

Afsana is a resident of Kopra village in Kharghar. “She always picked up fights with people and used to hit her 12-year-old son for every small thing. She recently hurt her own son with a knife injuring his hand,” Mohan Chavan, a neighbour, told The Hindu .

Afsana’s young son Shakeer said his mother was mad. “She would always keep beating me. She used to be always under tremendous tension since my father left us. Maybe that’s why she behaved like this,” he said. Afsana worked as domestic help with another family and had joined the playschool just two months back.

Neelam Khanna, a Navi Mumbai resident who had employed Afsana, said, “I sacked her within a month after I found her behaviour weird. Once my child slipped on the wet floor to which she said ‘why don’t these kids die’. I removed her the same day.” Varsha Kawle, whose daughters aged three and five, are students at the school, said, “When Ms. Nikam would step out, the caretaker would also step out and lock the door, leaving the children by themselves inside.” Ms. Kawle said her older daughter had told her that ‘bai (Afsana) would often hit the children with a rod and made sure everyone slept’.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Sinha said though there is no threat to her daughter’s life, doctors are waiting for the blood clots to subside and have confirmed that there is no other fracture. “Even as the injuries are subsiding, the trauma that the child is going through is the major worry. She is going to her father and other male members of the family but is reluctant to go to any woman,” Rushit Patel, a family friend said.

The video footage of the assault which went viral on social media and news channels continued to shock Mumbaikars. Angry activists of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) and Shiv Sena pelted stones and vandalised the playschool on Friday morning. “The caretaker must be given the absolute strictest punishment. That monster deserves the worst penalty for torturing a 10 month old child,” tweeted Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray.

The writer is a freelance journalist