TNN

Bangalore, Feb 29: Ten-year-old Sahana (name changed) refuses to go to school. All because her teacher called her a terrorist for not doing homework.

What’s worse, in the last fortnight, she has undergone several humiliating sessions in the packed Class 4 classroom of Sophia School on Palace Road.

On Thursday night, her father Venkatesh Yadav, resident of RMV Extension, registered a case with the High Grounds police accusing the teacher Ms Ram Prasad of abusing and assaulting his daughter.

School principal Sr Sandhya said she would look into the matter on Friday.

"At present, I cannot verify it. I can give a statement only tomorrow."

According to the complaint, Sahana was first humiliated by Ms Ram Prasad a fortnight ago as she had not done her homework.

Last week, the teacher made Sahana draw the number zero on the blackboard and asked her to touch her nose to the board.

She was also beaten up by the teacher for not doing homework. Sahana’s mother met the school authorities the next day and the matter was settled.

On Thursday when Sahana went to school for the monthly exams, the episode took a weird turn. Sahana was asked to wait at the staff room along with her classmate Sirin (name changed) and the accused teacher reportedly asked them to admit to carrying chits for copying or remain absent from the exam.

Sirin accepted this, but Sahana refused to do so and was barred from taking the exam. After returning home, she told her parents about this and refused to step into the school fearing more humiliation.

A police officer said: "Her marks sheet tells the story. She secured high grades in previous exams. As per the complaint, we have booked cases against the tainted teacher under IPC sections 323 (assaulting) and 504 (using foul language)."

Meanwhile, Sirin is expected to face more charges for humiliating the girl over the last two weeks when the police get cracking on Friday.

On questioning, the girl said the teacher had beaten up another classmate Anjali (name changed) 15 days ago.

Sahana said the teacher had beaten up Anjali with a duster and she fell unconscious for some time in the classroom, said a police officer.

The Child Welfare Committee hinted at a suo motu case against the school teacher and the authorities for humiliating the girl.

"The Karnataka Education Act and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in its circulars clearly mentioned that the school kids should not be punished. We’ll examine the report and initiate suo motu action against the school," Child Welfare Committee chairperson Vasudev Sharma told TOI.

The official added that in the past too, several teachers in Bangalore have been taken to task for ill-treatment of school kids.