Jamshedpur: Parents of injured Beldih Church School student meet principal, threaten legal action on failing to punish errant staff, slam management

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, Feb 7: The parents of Rishant Ojha, a class VII student of Church School, Beldih, have given the school management two days to take necessary action against the slack school staff in connection with the recent incident of assault on their ward.

Rishant Ojha received severe injury in his left eye after another student assaulted him with belt during dispersal time few days ago. He is currently undergoing treatment in a Kolkata hospital. His exams are underway.

After a meeting with the school principal L Peterson, Sanjay Ojha, uncle of Rishant Ojha, said his family was contemplating legal action against the school. �The school management has promised to take necessary action against those guilty of dereliction of duty resulting in assault on my nephew. We had informed the school several times about the accused student who beat up Rishant in school earlier. But no action was taken against the accused student. Rishant had to pay for the recklessness and insensitivity shown by the school,� Ojha said.

�Bistupur police officials were also present at the meeting. The school management admitted its fault in failing to prevent the incident. But this is not enough as we want justice,� Ojha added.

Ankit Anand, district BJP spokesperson and leader of Shiksha Satyagraha, a city-based outfit fighting for students� rights, accompanied Ojha and his other family members. He accused the school management of trying to put pressure on Rishant�s family to withdraw their demand for action against the guilty school teachers and staff. �It is very unfortunate that such a well-known school has turned a blind eye to such a major incident. We have demanded that Rishant Ojha should be allowed to take his exams once he is released from hospital. We also demand stringent action against the school officials who ignored earlier complaints of Rishant�s parents,� said Anand.

The BJP leader said the school management did not send its representative to the hospital after Rishant was assaulted. He accused Robert Alexander, who represented the school management at the meeting, of giving �irresponsible� and �shocking� statement about the incident.

Others present at the meeting included Abhishek Ojha, Sonu Singh, Appu Tiwary and vice principal of the school.�� �

Legal action against school after two days: Sanjay Ojha

Sanjay Ojha, uncle of Rishant Ojha, said the principal of Church School, Beldih, had called him and his brother for a meeting on the incident of assault on his nephew. �The school management officials spoke in an irresponsible and threatening way. They tried to put pressure on us. But we protest such attempts. We will not sit back quietly. Police has shown slackness in taking action against the guilty. We will wait for two days and take legal action thereafter,� said Ojha.

School�s attitude very insensitive: Ankit Anand

Satyagrah leaderAnkit Anand Friday accused Church School officials of showing irresponsible and insensitive behaviour in handling the situation arising after assault on Rishant. �Robert Alexander, a representative of the school, had tried to hurt religious sentiments by giving reckless statement during the meeting. We repeatedly asked him to leave but he would not listen to us. He was forced out of the meeting room since the situation was going out of control,� said Anand.

The BJP leader said the school management should take stringent legal action against its guilty staff or else action would be taken against the school on a bigger platform.