A Class 1 student of Ryan International School in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj died on Saturday after falling into the sewage water tank in the school premises. The parents of the boy, Devansh Meena, 6, have blamed the school authorities for negligence. While father Ram Heth Meena, 42, is a radiologist with the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), mother Mamta Meena, 38, is employed with the nursing department of the same institute. The school authorities have denied any negligence and said that the boy was suffering from attention deficit hyper activity syndrome. They said they have no knowledge of how he reached up to the water tank.
A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the matter by the Delhi government. “We have ordered the district magistrate of New Delhi to probe the case. I need a report to take action. The probe will find facts and fix responsibility for the child’s death,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, tweeted.
The Delhi police has filed a case of negligence under Section 304A. Initial autopsy reports suggest “drowning” as the cause of death.
The police said that on Saturday morning, Devansh had come to the school to take part in a poem competition. “We have learnt that while the competition took place in the morning, between the sixth and seventh period, at about 12.20 pm, Devansh ran out of the class and went missing,” said a senior police officer, adding, “Immediately a search for him was carried out for over an hour when finally around 1.30 pm the school electrician spotted him floating in the sewage water tank under the amphitheatre.”
The officials said that an alarm was raised and senior administrative officials rushed to the spot. Devansh was given first aid and was later taken to the Indian Spinal Injury Centre in Vasant Kunj where doctors declared him brought dead.
Deputy commissioner of police (south district) Prem Nath said: “The school authorities did not inform us about the tragedy and it was only after the hospital called us at about 2.40 pm that we got to know of the incident and a team from the local police station rushed immediately.”
The police said that the body was sent for an autopsy and the final results are awaited. A senior police officer said that there is still ambiguity on when exactly Devansh went out and if he did so in the middle of class, as is being claimed by the school, why didn’t any teacher stop him. “There are contradictions and questions into which we are looking and are probing the case from all possible angles,” the senior police officer said.
