Vasai Class 6 student’s death: Education Officer visited school on Sunday, met with parents

Anshika Gaud who was undergoing treatment after being made to do the sit-ups died on Friday (November 14). Her parents blamed the school and a teacher for her death, alleging that her health deteriorated after she was made to do 100 sit-ups as punishment. The incident triggered uproar among parents’ as well as the local community. The police have lodged an accidental death report in the matter and are awaiting the postmortem report.

The postmortem report, according to the school education department too, is crucial in this case. However, Matekar said, “The report of a preliminary inquiry conducted on Saturday has already established that a few students from the school were made to do sit-ups as punishment for being late to the school on last Saturday (November 8) by the teacher. There are clear laws against corporal punishment and strict action will be taken for implementing such harsh punishment.”

After holding a protest outside the school on Saturday, the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) on Sunday met with parents of the Anshika. “We will not let the school start regular operations until strict action is taken in this case. Irrespective of the outcome of the postmortem report, it is clear that the said teacher made the children do 100 sit-ups, and the school administration allowed it when corporal punishment is prohibited by law,” said Amit Narkar from MNVS Vasi unit, demanding strict action in this case.