TUMAKURU: The director of the school administrative board of a residential school allegedly attacked about 30 male students in a drunken state at Mallasandra in Tumakuru taluk on Monday night. He is since absconding.
Bharat, the son of the school secretary, is accused of having thrashed 30 residential students of Vishwa Bharati School with a belt and stick. The incident came to light after four days, and it was alleged that the school administration tried to hush up the matter.
Bharat did not desist even when the students were screaming. He hit the boys in the thighs and private parts for no reason. There were bruise marks and blood clots on some of the students’ bodies. Bharat was rude and just ignored a student whose hand got fractured.The students informed their parents about the incident after three days over the phone, and they arrived at the hostel on Friday on getting to know about the incident from their children.
Vishwa Bharati residential school is for SC/ST community students, and is completely free in terms of education fees and hostel facilities. The students come here from Chitradurga, Davanagere and Haveri districts.
The parents of the children complained at the Tumkur Rural police station, and the police are searching for the accused. The parents are claimed that even after a complaint was filed, the police were not acting to nab the accused.
One of the residential school students said Bharath had beaten them earlier also. “We just kept quiet at that time. He beat us with a wooden stick this time.”
Ninga Nayak, the parent of a student, said, “The school management had visited our town saying that they will provide free education to children with free accommodation facility. A few months after admission, the children started complaining that Bharat was assaulting them, but we did not pay much heed. What was the reason for beating the children?” he questioned. “We have all the records and we are ready to take this case to a logical conclusion.”
School secretary Murthy, who is Bharat’s father, said, “We have been running the institution for 42 years. Not a single complaint was received by students nor were there any remarks on the institution. We reopened the school this year after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. We brought the students from Davanagere, Bhadri Bommanahalli, Harihar, Byadagi and other districts. We get grants from the Social Welfare Department to run the institution. This is my contribution to society.”
On the allegations about his son beating up some students, he said, ” Bharat is just one of the board members and has not been given any responsibility. I also heard about the incident and saw the bruises on them. I do not know much about it”, he added.