11-yr-old non-verbal autistic child suffers injuries, parents blame school

The parents of an 11-year-old non-verbal autistic child have alleged that the boy suffered serious injuries due to the negligence of a school in Whitefield.

According to the FIR filed with HAL Police station, the incident took place on December 19. The parents were told by the school that the child fell down during a yoga session and had problems moving his right hand.

“The X-ray revealed that the humerus bone (between shoulder and elbow joint) was broken at two places. While the school contended that it happened when he fell down, the extent of injury did not match the explanation given by the management and hence, we requested to see the CCTV footage,” Swapnil Kumar Soni, the child's father, told DH.

The school refused to share the footage citing technical problems. But when they failed to respond even after 20 days, the parents got suspicious.

“If they are clean, why are they refusing to show us the footage? My son is already disabled and such injuries could have drastic effects on his mental health and learning. I do not want this to happen with any other child and that's why we have approached all organisations for support to probe into the matter,” he added.

Police said the investigation has just begun and that they are moving cautiously as it is a sensitive matter.

The parents have also approached the Department for the Empowerment of Differently Abled.

School authorities denied the charges of negligence and said they provided all the support they could.

“On the day of the incident, the child started crying in a different tone and the mentors immediately called the parents. Our staff also accompanied them to the doctors and we were supportive throughout. There was no yoga session on the day and we do not know of any incident of the child falling down," a representative of the school told DH.

When asked why they refused to share the CCTV footage, the representative said the technical glitch was being resolved. "Ours is a huge campus and there are at least 250 cameras installed. Owing to a technical glitch, one of the DVRs was not working. We spoke to the technicians in the presence of the parents and he explained the problem," the representative said.