Mumbai: Police here Thursday booked a woman schoolteacher on charges of caning a mentally challenged eight-year-old student. “We have lodged a complaint by the parents of the child against the teacher. After an investigation is carried out, we shall decide the further course of action,” investigating officer Sarita Bhosale of the Matunga police station told IANS. The June 30 incident concerned a student of the Matunga Centre for Differently Abled Children, who was caned by the teacher in a classroom.
The shocking episode was recorded on a mobile phone by a person living in the neighbourhood.
That person sent the video to some parents and it soon became viral on various social networking websites, though the child’s parents were unaware of it.
On Aug 2, the parents were among several others who attended a parent-teacher association meeting, during which the school director lashed out at them for not approaching him about the incident and circulating the video clip. When the parents finally saw the video, they were stunned to see the teacher beating their son. They approached police in Matunga who took their statement and awaited instructions from the Child Welfare Commission and other organisations for taking further steps in the matter.
