The incident has prompted an investigation, with her mother claiming the punishment was the reason she died. A Class 6 student lost her life in Mumbai on Friday, almost a week after she was allegedly made to perform 100 sit-ups as punishment for coming late to school.
A student of a private school located in Sativali of Maharashtra’s Palghar district, the girl passed away in a Mumbai hospital on Friday night, which led to authorities launching a probe over the harrowing incident Block education officer Pandurang Galange said an inquiry is being conducted into the death. “The probe will reveal the exact cause of her death,” he said. No police complaint has been filed as yet.
The school made a total of five students perform 100 sit-ups each for reaching school late on November 8, the report stated quoting members of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). MNS leader from Vasai, Sachin More claimed she was punished despite having pre-existing health problems.
The girl’s mother alleged that her daughter died as a result of an “inhuman punishment” given by her teacher, who made her perform sit-ups with her school bag on her back. She added that her child’s health condition deteriorated rapidly after she was subjected to corporal punishment.
“After the punishment, she experienced severe pain in her neck and back, and could not get up,” she said. When she went to the school and confronted the teacher after she came to know about the incident, she was told that the students were punished for coming late to school. She also alleged that the teacher justified the punishment and said that the parents otherwise accuse them of not teaching the students despite paying fees.
“I told the teacher that punishing the students does not mean forcing them to perform sit-ups with bags on their back. The teacher gave my daughter inhuman punishment, which led to her death,” she said. “It is not known how many sit-ups this child had done. One really does not know if she died due to it or otherwise,” a teacher from the girl’s school said
