School assault case: Teenager insists he didn't try to kill anybody

For the past two weeks a pall of gloom hangs over the home of a 14yearold boy in Malad East The boy who is the youngest child in the family is now a murder accused having allegedly slashed his senior with a blade three weeks agoOn July 21 the 14yearold Std VIII student was accused of using a blade to slash the neck of his senior from Standard X of the same schoolldquoMy son can be mischievous sometimes but he can never harm anyone He kept insisting that he did not slash the other boy He says he only pushed him and the other boy scraped himself on a piece of metal while falling which caused the injury And still they are calling my son a murdererrdquo said the teenagerrsquos motherEver since their son returned home the family has not managed to resume their routine life ldquoMy son stopped going out because he used to be ridiculed neither has his mother stepped out of the house My older son and I work so we have to venture out but this incident has ruined everything for usrdquo added his fatherOn July 21 the 14yrold Std VIII student was accused of using a blade to slash the neck of his senior from Standard X of the same school lsquoVengeful teenager slashes teenagerrsquos neck with a bladersquo July 22 While the victim was rushed to a nearby hospital the accused student was booked for attempt to murder and sent to the Dongri remand home and released on bail soon afterldquoWe tried asking the school if he could return but the authorities didnrsquot allow it No other school in the area is ready to admit him We finally secured admissions to a boarding school in Bharuch but we will first try our best to admit him to a Mumbai school If it doesnrsquot work out we will have no option but to send him to Bharuchrdquo said Salim Mohammed the boyrsquos uncleThe student is living with his uncle in Mira Road these days With no hope of continuing his education in the same school the family has requested authorities to give them a schoolleaving certificate ldquoMy son has not spoken much to anybody after this incident He stays indoors and refuses to talk He keeps insisting that he didnrsquot try to kill anyone I donrsquot know how else to help himrdquo said his fatherThe family has also moved out of their home in Kol Dongri to another area in Malad East The accused childrsquos mother is waiting to undergo a cataract surgery soon Their older son works in a garment shop in a mall in Malad While the family is still coming to terms with the matter the 16yearold victimrsquos family says they will never forget the incidentThough the boy has started attending school after being discharged from hospital they are worried that he might still be in danger ldquoWersquove heard that the accused has got bail and is now free Even the school has not taken any action against him other than giving him a schoolleaving certificateI will meet the school principal soon and demand that he take stricter action against the accused so as to make sure that no other kid in any other school even thinks of endangering someone elsersquos life againrdquo said Suresh Shukla father of the victim who is in Std X of the same school