Mumbai: FIR against Sharadashram school officials

The Dadar police registered an FIR against the headmistress of Sharadashram Vidyamandir International School and a teacher for allegedly humiliating and punishing an eightyearold girl over nonpayment of fees the day midday published the news report on Friday The police also recorded statements of the childrsquos father the principal and the teacher on FridayThe FIR was registered against headmistress Rajita Bale and the childrsquos class teacher Priya Parab The duo has been booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2015The girl studies in Std II at Sharadashram Vidyamandir International School File picAtul KambleThe Sharadashram Vidyamandir trust runs both Sharadashram Vidyamandir where former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar studied and the Sharadashram Vidyamandir International SchoolAlso Read Maharashtra 674 state schools to disappear by 2024The incidentThe Std II student and her parents alleged that the class teacher did not allow her to appear for an exam unit test2 and made her sit in a separate room away from her classmates as punishment for over two hours on Wednesday as they have been unable to pay her fees The childrsquos father Mrugendra Rane said when he went to pick up his daughter he learnt that she had been forced to wait on the schoolrsquos staircaseThe parents claim that the incident has traumatised their child Rane on Thursday submitted a complaint letter to Dadar police He also emailed a complaint letter to the Maharashtra State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights MSCPCR the same dayCiting a financial crisis the parents had requested and assured the school that he would pay the fees soon However the school sent a letter to them warning that the child would not be allowed to take the exam if the fees were not paid The letter parents allege reached a day before the exam on January 10 The girlrsquos father has said in his complaints that the total school fees are around R78000 and he has to pay R60460 of themldquoThe FIR was registered after middayrsquos report I have already given my statement to the police I fear that the school management will delete the CCTV camera footagerdquo said RaneRane a resident of Gokhale Road in Dadar West owns a small shoplsquoPolice being pressuredrsquoThe allegations have been refuted by the school management and the chairman said they have CCTV camera footage that can prove that the child was not made to sit in a room for two hoursTalking about the FIR Gajendra Shetty chairman of Sharadashram Vidyamandir International School said ldquoWe urged the police not to file the FIR and have a look at the CCTV camera footage first We learnt that the parent Rane has been pressuring the police to file an FIR However we have not done anything wrong and have CCTV camera footage proving that the parent has been spreading false information The child was not made to sit in a room for two hours she can be seen playing outside in the footage Also there was a dance practice going on she is also in a group photo clicked at the time We are taking legal opinion in the matter and will decide on the next course of action after thatrdquoPoliceSpeakWhen contacted the police told midday that the FIR was filed after the headmistress and teacher admitted to making the child sit alone in a room and not letting her appear for the unit testBabaso Salunkhe subinspector Dadar police station said ldquoWe immediately acted upon the parentrsquos complaint and recorded the statements of parents the headmistress and the teacher While recording the statements both the principal and teacher admitted to making the child sit in the room alone and not letting her appear for the unit test However they clarified that they had no malintentions The childrsquos father said said they had not been paying the fees since last year The school had been urging the parents to pay the fees repeatedly but in vain They punished the child even though it was not her faultrdquoSalunkhe added ldquoFor now we have registered an FIR against the headmistress and the teacher under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2015 We will check the CCTV camera footage and then send a notice to the school We will also consult the education department on the samerdquo