3 teachers held for caning, injuring boy

Three teachers of a private school in Tamil Nadu’s Perambalur district were arrested on Saturday evening for allegedly caning a Class IX boy after he was admitted to hospital for treatment.

However, an enquiry found that the initial charge of the boy being “asked to drink his urine” by his teachers in the school hostel was “untrue”, official sources said over the phone from Perambalur.

The student of a privately managed school at Agaramsigoor, 35 km from Perambalur, on Thursday night was accused by his hostel mates of  “compelling” some other boys to “take” dope.

The boy, habituated to take mild dope, had been warned by teachers not to get stoned in the school, District Chief Education Officer (CEO) Malliga, who conducted an enquiry on Saturday in the school, said. But the boy apparently did not pay heed and persisted with his habit.

‘Untrue’ allegation

However, with others in the hostel “complaining” about the boy, the three teachers allegedly beat him up badly on Thursday night. The boy sought permission to answer nature’s call, but on being questioned by the teachers was found to have “urinated in his pants,” the CEO after the enquiry said. The allegation that “the boy was forced to drink his urine is untrue”.

The traumatised boy on Friday went back home to Kumbakonam, where his parents admitted him to Government Hospital (GH) for treating the injuries he  suffered due to caning by the teachers.

The GH Police quizzed the boy when the incident came to light. Even as the private school’s headmaster rushed to Kumbakonam to ascertain what had happened to the boy, Malliga, on hearing about the incident, visited the school on Saturday morning and held a detailed enquiry. “We found that three teachers had caned the boy.

Hence, we directed all the three be placed under suspension,” Malliga told Deccan Herald when contacted.

The Perambalur Police on Saturday evening registered an FIR against the three arrested teachers — Raja, Sakthivel and Karuppiah — and remanded  them in judicial custody, police sources added.