Vizag boy dies after teacher slap; what really happened
What's the story
A six-year-old student of Little Garden School in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, died under mysterious circumstances on Thursday, shortly after he was slapped by his teacher for not completing his homework. According to the family, the child, Pranay Teja, became scared, began weeping and coughing, and later fell while at school. The family claims that the incident occurred following the teacher's slap, although the exact cause of death has yet to be determined.
Investigation underway
CCTV footage shows teacher reprimanding Pranay
CCTV footage from the school shows the teacher reprimanding Pranay, who then starts crying and pleading.
The teacher appears to adjust his uniform before slapping him. Moments later, Pranay collapses into her lap.
The footage also shows the teacher trying to lift him while remaining seated, but he does not respond.
The child was rushed to King George Hospital (KGH), where he was declared dead.
The police are now examining this footage as part of their investigation into the incident.
Cop
School staff rushed him to nearby hospital
"The teacher apparently alerted the other teachers, who rushed there and tried to do CPR on the student. Later, the school staff rushed him to a nearby hospital, but doctors declared him dead on arrival. Apparently, the boy had suffered a cardiac arrest out of panic," Visakhapatnam revenue divisional officer Sadhu Dileep Chakravarthy told reporters.
A postmortem report is awaited.
Family's plea
'He was playing happily the previous night'
According to some reports, the boy was reluctant to go to school on Thursday, as he had not completed some of his homework or he was not well, but he eventually went.
However, his father, a cook, has dismissed any suggestion that he had been unwell before going to school on the day of the incident.
"He was playing happily the previous night and was perfectly fine in the morning," he said.
Doctor
Post-mortem to be completed tonight
He also said he was not informed by the school about his son's condition but learned of it from local cooks. While the incident occurred around 11:00am, he was only informed by 12:30pm.
King George Hospital superintendent Dr I Vani told HT that the parents initially did not give their consent for conducting post-mortem.
"We shall complete the post-mortem by tonight. Only after the report comes out, we shall be able to tell the exact cause of death," Vani said.
Protest
Boy couldn't do homework as family went on pilgrimage
The boy's family gathered outside the school after learning of his death.
"Our family went on a pilgrimage last week for a few days and returned only on Wednesday. That was the reason why he had not done the homework. He had no health issues at all," his father told reporters.
"How can the teacher behave so rudely with a UKG student?" he asked, demanding strict action against the teacher and the school management.
Official response
Legal action to be taken
Andhra Pradesh Minister for Human Resources Development Nara Lokesh expressed his condolences and promised legal action against those responsible.
He said, "We are taking legal action against the culprits and the school management."
The Andhra Pradesh School Education Department called the incident "extremely unfortunate and painful" and is treating it seriously. A three-member committee has been formed to investigate further.