Parents of student who died in school meet Ghaziabad SSP

The parents of a Class 4 G.D. Goenka Public School student who died after slipping in the school premises met the Ghaziabad SSP on Friday to demand immediate arrest of the culprits. They also alleged that the school owners also threatened them with dire consequences if they do not stop pursuing the case.

Senior Superintendent of Police H.N.Singh heard the grievances of Arman Sehgal's parents, while his mother Swati also lost her cool at him when he said the culprits would be arrested "if evidence was found against them". When police have already applied Indian Penal Code's Section 201 (disappearance of evidence), what other evidence do they need, she retorted.

She alleged that during these four days, the school has tampered with the evidence, pointing out that when CCTV cameras at all other places were found to be operational, why were the ones that cover the corridor where Arman slipped not working.

Urging Singh to arrest the culprits, she said that she would sit on dharna in his office "if the school principal is not arrested today" but Singh told the family to wait till Monday.

The parents also submitted a complaint alleging that the school owners - Ankur Malhotra, Smita Malhotra, Kavita Sharma, Meenakshi Dhingra, Shilpa Babbar and Sumit Anand - have threatened to kill them.

The family said at 10 p.m. on Thursday, they were going for some work when three men stopped them, held a pistol on Swati Sehgal's head and asked them to negotiate with the school's owner.

The goons claimed that the owners can influence police and the administrative machinery and even extend the time span of the magisterial inquiry, the complaint said.

Calling the administrative exercise an eyewash, Swati Sehgal also said that she never demanded a magisterial inquiry in the first place but it was ordered.

She said her child's death was no accident but a "murder" and that the school has been harassing her for the last six years. "Last year, Arman was rusticated from the school over fee dispute and was allowed in only after I submitted an apology letter to the school," she said.

The accident occurred on Tuesday morning at the school in Niti Khand III in Indirapuram when 10-year-old Arman came in to appear for an internal school test. He slipped and fell on a second floor corridor and was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead.

Arman's father Gulshan Sehegal said it was the fault of the school that the corridor was not safe to walk. He said Arman's cloths were wet suggesting that there was water on the floor which caused him to slip.

--IANS

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