Rouvanjit Case: Will Never Cane Again, Says Principal

Kolkata: June 14: The Principal of La Martiniere School for Boys Sunirmal Chakravarthi has regretted caning Class VIII student Rouvanjit Rawla, who committed suicide later, and said that he would never cane again.

As per a report published in a leading daily on Tuesday, the Principal of La Martiniere School has tendered an apology to the board of governors of the school for the corporal punishment meted out to Rouvanjit Rawla terming it as a mistake.

Drawing lessons from Rouvanjit's case, Chakravarthi also assured that corporal punishment would never again be practised in the school.

However, he categorically denied that caning in school drove Rouvanjit to commit suicide.

"The board made it abundantly clear that corporal punishment was strictly prohibited. I apologised to them. It will not be practised any more," Chakravarthi was quoted as saying.

The matter came to light after 13-year-old Rouvanjit committed suicide in his home in Alipore on February 12 this year, the day he was hauled up by teachers for "gross indiscipline" in the classroom.

An internal inquiry committee was set up to probe the case. The committee found the principal guilty of administering corporal punishment to Rouvanjit but did not link it to his death.

The board however warned the principal for using corporal punishment, as per the rules of the school. According to the rulebook, warning is the first action against such an offence, if the offence is repeated a second time, it would lead to suspension and if repeated a third time, it would lead to termination.

Apart from the action taken by the board, Bishop Ashok Biswas, the chairman of the prestigious school's board of governors, also wrote letters to every teacher in the school advising against corporal punishment.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which is probing the case, wants Sunirmal Chakarvarthy and three teachers – LG Gunnion, Partha Dutta and Anand Bhaju – suspended pending inquiry into the Rouvanjit Rawla suicide case.

“We are likely to say that during the period of police investigation at least the principal and three teachers should be suspended otherwise it won’t be a fair and impartial investigation. It will be difficult for the police to record statements of the students in the presence of the principal,” said NCPCR member Ashok Agarwal.

“We will in the report say that corporal punishment was rampant in the school. The possibility of linking this humiliation to the suicide cannot be ruled out. Had this humiliation not taken place this death could have been avoided,” he added.

Rouvanjit’s family has filed a complaint against four teachers and principal Sunirmal Chakravarti, accusing them of misbehaving with their son and torturing him.

They have been charged under Section 305 (abetment to suicide of child) of the IPC, which is non-bailable.

m