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Girl beaten by teacher dies in coma
It’s Murder, Say Many Educationists

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Shanno Khan, 11, the primary class student at an MCD school in north Delhi who slipped into coma on Wednesday after being allegedly beaten and made to stand in the sun for nearly two hours by her teacher for not being able to recite letters of the English alphabet, died on Friday afternoon. Many educationists are calling it a case of murder abetted by slack implementation of guidelines on corporal punishment by the authorities.
Shanno’s father Ayub Khan said doctors at LNJP informed him about the girl’s death at 2.30pm on Thursday. She had been on ventilator support since Wednesday.
‘‘The doctors didn’t give the exact reason for her death. I was told that she died due to heart attack. I have two other kids studying in the same school. I don’t know whether they can ever return to the school where their sister was killed. I want strong action against the teacher,’’ Khan said.
Shanno’s sister Saima, who also studies in MCD Primary Girls’ School at JJ Colony, Bawana, near Narela — claimed the teacher, Manju, who has been teaching in the school for the past one year, had also put bricks on Shanno’s shoulder when she pleaded for water after being made a ‘murga’ — a painful punishment where the student is made to squat and hold her ears by bending her arms through her legs.
Doctors at LNJP hospital remained tightlipped about the exact cause of death. ‘‘The report has been sent to the police,’’ said senior a doctor.
Times View
The teacher involved in this case must be charged with manslaughter — culpable homicide not amounting to murder, to use legal jargon. This is important because it’s about time a strong message was sent out that the practice of brutally beating up students has no place in any modern, civilized society. There have been far too many cases of teachers assaulting students. The current talk of the teacher being suspended and an inquiry being set up should be just the beginning. It should be followed up with the right prosecution under an appropriately strong charge that’s backed up with a strong enough case. Our children — and society, at large — deserve better.

BRUTALIZED: 11-year-old Shanno, who died on Friday