Boy's drowning in school: Army sets up Fact Finding Board

The Army has constituted a Fact Finding Board into the death of a 5-year-old boy with special needs at a school run under the aegis of its Eastern Command, a Defence communique said Friday.

The Board would give its recommendations about putting in place effective measures to obviate recurrence of such incidents, said the communique issued nine days after the boy drowned in a hydrotherapy pool at the school on February 20.

Hydrotherapy, or water therapy, is the use of water - hot, cold, steam, or ice - to relieve discomfort and promote physical well-being.

"The management and the Army express deepest condolences to the parents and relatives of the child," the communique said.

The father of the child has filed a complaint with the police against the school authorities alleging negligence.

Asha School, run by the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA), provides education, care and rehabilitation to the differently abled children of Defence personnel as well as those of civilians. At present, 21 wards of civilians study at the institution here.

On February 20, after the school's sports day event, the boy, in "an unfortunate incident", drowned in the school's hydrotherapy pool, the communique said.

The incident was immediately reported by the school management to Alipore Police Station and parents of the child, it said.

The communique stated that the school authorities are extending full cooperation to the police in carrying out the investigation.

On February 25, a prayer meeting was organised at the school, situated inside the Command Hospital premises in South Kolkata, and was followed by "a parents-teachers meeting where all parents were given an update on the incident," it said.

Subhajit Ghosh, the father of the child, said they were invited to the prayer meeting by the school authorities, but had refused to go given their distraught state of mind.

Ghosh, a civilian who works in a private company, said "I met a senior officer of Kolkata Police on Thursday to seek completion of the investigation at the earliest.