Delhi schoolboy’s death leads to protest, police probe

The boy, Prince, studied in Class 6 at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, where he was enrolled under the economically weaker sections (EWS) quota.

A 12-year-old student at a private school in Vasant Vihar died in hospital on Tuesday morning, with his parents alleging the boy was injured after a scuffle with a classmate, even as police said they were probing the case and were yet to ascertain the cause of the death.

Delhi schoolboy’s death leads to protest, police probe

The boy, Prince, studied in Class 6 at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, where he was enrolled under the economically weaker sections (EWS) quota.

Investigators said an autopsy was performed on Tuesday evening, the results of which were not out as of going to print. However, senior police officers said that a scuffle had broken out in the school, doctors told them that the boy was “frothing at the mouth” and “may have had a medical condition”. A case was filed under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) at Vasant Vihar police station.

Prince is survived by his father, Sagar, who works as a drain cleaner with a private firm, his mother, Neetu, who is a homemaker, and his 14-year-old brother, who studies in a government school. His family, which belongs to the Schedule Caste community, protested outside the school around 11am, accusing the administration of negligence. They remained there past midnight.

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surendra Chaudhary said the control room received a call from a private hospital in Vasant Kunj at 10.15am reporting that a student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya was brought to the facility, where he was declared dead.

“His body did not have any visible injury marks. He was frothing at the mouth. The doctors said the victim may have a medical condition, but we are yet to receive the post-mortem report,” Chaudhary said.

Chinmaya Vidyalaya principal Archana Soni confirmed that the scuffle broke out between Prince and a classmate around 8.30am inside Class 6-B.

“We took immediate action in breaking off the fight and there were no apparent injury marks on the student,” she said. “We have taken prompt action, informed the authorities and are extending full cooperation to all the concerned parties,” Soni added.

Prince’s family, however, alleged negligence on school’s part and blamed them for his death, claiming that he did not suffer a prior medical ailment.

His paternal aunt said Prince was healthy when he left for school and did not have any ailments that may trigger seizures. “My brother went to drop him to school. He was absolutely alright,” she said.

His father Sagar, in his complaint to the police, said Prince was dropped off at school around 7.45am in “healthy condition”. At 9.20am, a teacher called up the family and asked them to rush to a hospital. “The class teacher was present at the hospital, and she wasn’t able to answer our questions clearly, as why school administration brought our son to the hospital “ he added. In his complaint, he also alleged that they were “pressured to rush Prince’s last rites”.

Some of the school’s staff informed them that the boy’s classmate “punched him near the heart, after which he became conscious”, she said.

“We were told by a few members of the school management who we met at the hospital that after attending the morning assembly, my nephew came back to the class with other students. He had a fight with his classmate, who punched him near the heart. He fell on the ground,” she said.

Another aunt questioned the school’s safety apparatus.

“Where were the teachers and security guards when the fight was happening? They didn’t do anything,” she said.

The family gathered outside the school after the incident and remained there the time of going to print.

His body was also brought here. We will stay here till a first information report is registered and the boy who hit our child is taken into custody,” the maternal aunt said around 7.30pm.

Chaudhary said students who were in Class 6-B during the incident as well as teachers of the school were questioned. The parents of the boy who Prince had a scuffle with will also be questioned, said police.

Prince’s parents and brother live in the Vasant Vihar staff quarters of the firm where his father works. The rest of his family lives in nearby Kusumpur Pahadi.