NHRC notice to Delhi government over corporal punishment in school

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Delhi Chief Secretary in a matter of alleged corporal punishment inflicted on an eight-year-old boy by a teacher at a government-run school in the Shalimar Bagh area here.

The Commission issued the notice after taking suo motu cognisance of a report that a guest teacher at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya pushed the student of class III on the ground as he had refused to "massage" the former's legs.

"Allegedly, the teacher beats all the boys a lot. He harasses them, hits them with bottles, places pens between their fingers and presses them. The Commission has observed that the report, if true, raises serious questions of violation of human rights of the young, school-going children," NHRC said in a statement here.

It has called for a detailed report from the Chief Secretary within four weeks.

It was further alleged that the teacher had forced the injured boy to walk when he has finding it difficult to do so and that the principal of the school had tried to hush up the matter.