A Pune based art teacher was arrested on Monday after a child’s parents lodged a complaint stating that the teacher slapped their 11-year-old student for not completing a school assignment, which led to the boy getting facial paralysis.
Revealing the details of the assault, the boy said he was slapped and his head was banged on a wooden bench for failing to complete a drawing project. His parent rushed him to a hospital in Baramati where the doctors said the boy had suffered facial paralysis.
The apologetic teacher said he never intended to hit the boy so hard. “It was completely unintentional. My motive was not to cause him an injury. I have never done anything like this in the past. I totally regret what I have done, please forgive me.”
The incident occurred in October at the Shri Shivaji Preparatory Military School (SSPMS), a government-aided residential school in Shivajinagar, where the child is a Class VI student.
A case under section 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) was registered against the accused teacher, identified as Sandeep Gade, at Shivajinagar police station
When contacted the school principal, Smita Patil said that, “According to the parents, the incident occurred on October 25 before our terminal examinations but we were informed about it only yesterday (Monday).
She further said the teacher’s 15-year record was clean and no such complaint ever came to her notice. She, however, said a committee has been constituted to probe the incident will also decide on providing medical aid or compensation to the student.
