Hyderabad: A 16-year-old student of class 10 at Sai Krupa High School in Yousufguda died during a physical brawl following a verbal altercation with his classmates on Wednesday.
“The light of my eyes… my hope is no more,” wailed the bereaved father of the boy, Syed Habeeb.
Even as they struggled financially, Manzoor’s parents shifted their ward to the private school during the COVID-19 pandemic. Manzoor was enrolled in the school in September 2021 and attended classes online up until January. After that, the school like other educational institutions shifted to offline classes with a decrease in COVID-19 cases.
Manzoor’s injury and what followed:
“They called me at 1 pm and said that our child has fainted. Come as soon as possible,” we panicked and rushed to the school. We were then told that he was admitted to a hospital nearby,” said Habeeb.
When Manzoor’s parents reached Krishna Hospital located in the vicinity they were asked to rush the child to Apollo, however, Manzoor was declared dead on arrival after medical assessment.
“We rushed him to Apollo after the hospital directed us to. But he took his last breaths in the vehicle in front of my eyes,” said Mumtaz, Manzoor’s mother as she broke down into tears.
Different narratives in Manzoor’s death:
The school management claimed that Mazoor suffered an injury on the back of his head due to the impact of falling on the edge of a bench, however, the family claims otherwise.
“The school children told us that a group of boys in his class had a heated argument with and bullied him by throwing pen caps at him. They attacked him after he revolted against the boys. Two boys held him, while the third punched him. The hospital told us that they saw marks of blows on his body, his ribs, during the postmortem,” said the mother.
A complaint was filed at the Jubliee Hills Police station after the child died. However, when the family attempted to hold the school management equally responsible for the accident, the police allegedly told them that they cannot file another complaint.
“A First Information Report (FIR) has been booked against the juveniles under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (Punishment for murder). It was a fight between students of the class that escalated leading to the death of the student,” said officer Madhavi Reddy.
“If the parents want they can have a healthy discussion with the management rather than protesting. It was an accident and they can demand compensation if they choose to calmly discuss it with them,” advised officer Reddy.
Apollo hospitals Jubliee Hills issued the “brought dead” certificate for the child timed 2:38 pm, two hours post the alleged accident.
Despite the death certificate, the family still awaits the results of the postmortem and a copy of the FIR. Both the accused students have been identified and held by the police.
History of bullying/harassment:
The parents have alleged that one of the accused had threatened him a few days ago which they realized from the deceased boy’s Instagram chats, screenshots of which have been accessed by Siasat.com.
The family has alleged harassment, discrimination, and negligence by the school management.
Aside from being bullied by his peers, the mother claimed that the principal had earlier physically assaulted the child on an occasion.
“She first abused my son then hit him after he revolted against her abuses. My son spoke to a girl in the class to borrow notes which she objected over and hurled abuses at him,” claimed the mother.
Even with the contradicting set of accounts, it is clear that the 15-year old’s last days as a schoolboy weren’t as pleasant as one would expect. The parents now plead justice for their son, demanding that the school be shut down for negligence and the accused be punished.
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