School girl beaten by teacher dies; teacher at large

New Delhi, Mar 27 (UNI) Rinki Kaushik, the class X student of an East Delhi school, who slipped into a coma a few months ago after being hit by a teacher for refusing his tuition, died in a hospital here.

However, the police have so far failed to arrest the teacher Dhirendra Kumar Dinkar despite charging him with causing death due to negligence.

The girl was cremated here this evening after an autopsy.

Her relatives and locals gheraoed the school and damaged the property. The father-son duo -- the principal of the school and the teacher accused of the crime -- are at large.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit today announced a compensation of Rs one lakh for the girl's parents.

Rinki, a student of the Dinkar Model school in Bagh, died at Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in Punjabi Bagh late last night after remaining in a coma for over two months.

She died of respiratory disorder at 2355 hrs yesterday.

The student had been admitted to the hospital four months ago with serious head injuries. Her parents alleged that she had been meted out corporal punishment by a teacher of the school as she was not keen to take tuitions from him.

In December, Rinki slipped into a coma. Subsequently, an inquiry was ordered into the incident by the Delhi education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely who also visited the hospital to enquire about the well being of the student.

The inquiry was ordered by Delhi Government's education department following a complaint lodged by Naresh Kumar, father of the victim, that his daughter was awarded corporal punishment due to which she slipped into a coma.

Based on the report of the inquiry, headed by the Dy Director of Education (East) R N Sharma, a show cause notice was issued to the school on February 20.

In his report, the DDE (East) said the school created hindrance to the inquiry by not furnishing the required records.

The inquiry revealed that though the school was recognised by the Education Directorate upto Class VIII, it ran unauthorised classes in violation of rule 45(1) of the DSEAR-73, which prohibits opening of new classes without prior approval of competent authority.

In its plea, the school authorities said the school is recognised till class eight, meaning thereby that Rinki Kaushik a tenth grader cannot be regarded the student of the school.

The Education Department found the reply of the school unsatisfactory as documents like fee card and the progress report of Rinki Kaushik showed that she was a student of class X at Dinkar National Model School.

The enquiry revealed that Rinki was physically abused by the teacher and Principal of the school due to which she was admitted to the ICU of Agrasen Hospital for Blood clotting in brain. Follwing the report, the Government recognition for the school was withdrawn.

It is notable that the Delhi High Court, in its CWP 196/98 (Parents for Meaningful Education Vs. Union of India and Others), prohibited corporal and physical punishment.

UNI NAB/AR MIR KN2028