Mumbai school staff humiliate 25 kids, give them forced haircuts

Two children sustained injuriesThe director the physical training teacher and the office assistant of a Vikhroli school decided to teach a group of 25 students a lesson on Friday for failing to follow the prescribed haircut They held the kids down and chopped clumps of hair as punishment All three were booked for subjecting the children to cruelty and injuring two of them after horrified parents approached the Vikhroli police stationPhysical training teacher Milind Zanake and office assistant Tushhar GoreStudents of Kamal Vasudev Vayakule English Medium School in Vikhrolis Tagore Nagar had been told to maintain a short crop The school director Dashrath Bata reminded them of it during a visit on ThursdayThe school staff forcibly gave the students a haircut yesterday PicsRajesh GuptaBut his son and school director Ganesh Bata 40 along with physical training teacher Milind Zanake 33 and office assistant Tushhar Gore 32 decided to enforce the directive in a cruel and traumatising manner After classes began yesterday they pulled up 2530 students from Std VVII who sported hair longer than that prescribed and chopped their locks To humiliate them further they cut the hair unevenly Two of the students even sustained injuries to the head So mortified were the students that they couldnt stop crying for hours and tried to hide their patchy haircutKamal Vasudev Vayakule English Medium School in VikhroliPinned down kidsAccording to Amit Pawar parent of a Std V student Ganesh grabbed the students heads and Zanake their hands while Gore took a pair of scissors to their hair The children cried but they showed no mercy My son came home traumatisedThe police said many parents rushed to the school seeking an explanation but the management refused to even entertain their complaint Sources said only after the clamour grew that Dashrath 82 agreed to meet themThe school allegedly dragged its feet on taking action against the errant staff prompting the parents to approach the Vikhroli police We had no other choice but to get the police involved said PawarThe police booked Ganesh Zanake and Gore under sections 324 voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means 335 voluntarily causing grievous hurt on provocation and 34 acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention of the Indian Penal Code and section of 75 cruelty to child meted out by the custodian of the Juvenile Justice Act Zanake and Gore were immediately arrested but Ganesh abscondedSridhar Hanchate senior inspector Vikhroli police station said the FIR was filed based on Pawars complaint A search for the school director has been launched The other two will be produced before the court on SaturdayDidnt order it FounderFollowing Pawars complaint other parents too approached the police and recorded their statementsDuring their inquiry the police found that two of the traumatised students also sustained injuries to the head most likely from the sharp pair of scissorsVicky Dhanwde parent of another affected student said his child is too scared to go to school now We just want the strictest action to be taken against the staffDashrath said he was not party to the cruelty meted out I visited to the school and told the students to have closelycropped hair We had even written this in the school diaries I had no idea that my order would be implemented in such a mannerHe said he had apologised to parents and will set up an inquiry in the matter We have never had such an incident in the 29 years that the school has been running Based on the inquiry report strictest action will be taken