Two Teachers Get 7-Year Jail Term in 2010 Death of Class VI Student in Kamrup

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: After a long wait of nearly 16 years, the parents of Mausum Raj Mahanta finally got a verdict after the court of the Additional Sessions, Kamrup, convicted two teachers in connection with the death of the school student in Mirza, Kamrup, in 2010.

The court found teacher Ajay Kumar Singh and then vice-principal Prasun Goswami guilty. They have been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 20,000 each under relevant sections of the law.

The incident involved Mausum Raj Mahanta, a Class VI student of Saraswati Shiksha Niketan, Mirza, who was reportedly beaten severely by his computer teacher, Ajay Kumar Singh, who struck him multiple times with a stick for not completing his homework. He was later taken to the office of the then vice-principal, Prasun Goswami, where he was again allegedly beaten.

According to the case details, the incident occurred on May 25, 2010. A student of Class VI, Mausam Raj Mahanta, aged 12 years, was flogged by his computer teacher Ajay Kr Singh with a stick on the left knee of the victim. He flogged him 4-5 times at the same place. Thereafter, he took the child to the chamber of the vice-principal of the school, Prasun Goswami, who also flogged the child on the same left knee three times.

From that evening, the child developed severe pain in his left leg. He could not attend school thereafter. He was treated at Mirza and Guwahati, and on May 31, 2010, he was admitted to GNRC Guwahati, where he died on June 7, 2010, due to ‘septic shock because of septic arthritis of the left knee and left myositis of calf muscle’.

The court found that the Septicemia was the result of the injury inflicted by the accused persons. The sequence of events that followed the incident shows that the flogging incident is the causa causans or proximate cause of the victim’s death.

Accordingly, accused Prasun Goswami and Ajay Kumar Singh were sentenced to imprisonment for 1 year and to pay a fine of INR 10,000 each for the offence committed under Section 325 IPC. Further, the accused/convicts were sentenced to imprisonment for 7 years and to pay a fine of INR 10,000 each for the offence committed under Section 304, Part II of the IPC.

The court has also directed the District Legal Services Authority, Kamrup, to conduct an inquiry in this regard and to pay compensation to the parents of the deceased, as per law.

Despite the conviction, the family of Mausum Raj Mahanta has expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict and demanded stricter punishment, including life imprisonment or even the death penalty for the guilty, and has also called for the closure of the school and adequate compensation.

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