School death: Forensic experts, doctors visit site

A team of doctors from the AIIMS along with forensic experts visited Ryan International School in Vasant Kunj on Monday to examine the water tank where six-year-old Devansh Meena, a Class 1 student, was found dead.

The AIIMS doctors, who had prepared the preliminary post-mortem report of the boy, want to examine the spot where the incident took place before submitting the final report.

The preliminary post-mortem report indicated that Devansh’s death was due to drowning. There were no external injuries on his body that could lead to death. According to sources, the preliminary post-mortem report pointed to asphyxiation (suffocation) due to aspiration of fluid into air passages as being the probable cause of the death. Devansh’s father Ramhit Meena has blamed the school authorities for his son’s death.

“It is a conspiracy by the school authorities and someone in the staff must be involved in the incident. I rushed to the hospital, where I found the principal at the entrance. I kept asking everyone what had happened, but nobody responded.”

Meanwhile, the Delhi government’s education depa-rtment on Monday directed all the city schools to immediately carry out an inspection of their premises to ensure there was no safety hazard for the students.

“Then the principal took me to the doctor, who informed me that my son was brought dead to the hospital,” he said.

Mr Meena, who is a paramedic at AIIMS, added, “When I sought answers from the principal, she asked me to stay put, claiming that it is for our own good. When I insisted, I was yelled at.”

However, the principal had refuted the allegation and claimed that Devansh was a special child, who was hyperactive and had a tendency of running away from the classroom. She, however, could not explain how the child fell into the water tank beneath the amphitheatre of the school.

Devansh was last seen before the seventh period on Saturday, which was around 12.20 pm. The authorities then started looking for him and after some time he was found floating inside the pit which is used as a water storage tank. It is under the amphitheatre in the school’s playground. He was then rushed to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

NHRC seeks report on 5-year-old death The National Human Rights Commission has asked the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the Delhi police to submit detailed reports over the death of a five-year-old boy due to fall into an open septic tank in a school run by the civic body.

The NHRC took suo motu cognisance of media repo-rts on the incident that occurred on January 27 in southwest Delhi’s Kapas-hera area at around 11.30 am. Nursery student Ankit fell into the septic tank while playing with his friends. “The commission, expressing serious concern over the negligence on the part of school administration, has issued notices to the commissioner, SDMC, and deputy commissioner of police (southwest), calling for detailed reports in the matter within four weeks,” the NHRC said.

The commission noted the boy “screamed” for help, following which a labourer, Ram Singh, who was working at a nearby construction site, jumped into the tank and fished him out.

“He was taken to Columbia Asia Hospital in Gurgaon where the doctors declared he was brought dead,” it said.

The police registered a case of negligence and took statements of the eyewitnesses as well as the school officials and parents of the boy. The SDMC had also ordered an inquiry by its additional commissioner (education).