10-yr-old falls outside class, dies at GD Goenka school
A 10-year-old student at GD Goenka School in Indirapuram died after falling on the floor outside his classroom on the second-floor of the building on Tuesday.
The family of the Class 4 student has alleged negligence on part of school authorities.
The family said the boy’s clothes were wet and there was a possibility of presence of water on the floor.
The child, identified as Arman Sehgal, lived at Vaishali in Ghaziabad.
His father is a marketing director with a private university in Sonepat. Arman was to appear for his weekly unit test at 8am but died around 7.45am outside his classroom ‘IV D’ while he was proceeding to the room ‘5D’ for taking the test held every Tuesday.
Arman’s father, Gulshan Sehgal, filed a complaint against the school authorities later in the evening, alleging the school was trying to hide facts. “We went to the school but we were not allowed to meet the principal/administration... We were not shown the CCTV footage and the spot (where the boy fell) was also cleaned. I suspect that my son died due to negligence of school authorities... We want a judicial and CBI inquiry,” read the complaint filed Sehgal.
The police have filed a FIR on the basis of the complaint.
Arman’s family alleged they were informed about the incident only after he was rushed to Shanti Gopal Hospital.
“We were informed late by school authorities. All his clothes were wet. I don’t doubt but I am certain on this point that there was presence of water on the floor and the school was trying to hide this point. They are saying that the boy’s clothes were wet due to urine discharge,” Arman’s mother, Swati, told mediapersons outside the hospital.
“Even the class teacher, in whose presence the incident
All his clothes were wet. I don’t doubt but I am certain on this point that there was presence of water on the floor and the school was trying to hide this point.
took place, was brought before us very late and only after repeated requests,” she said.
According to school authorities, the incident took place around 7.50 am when the boy came to his classroom to put his bag on his seat and was moving out with his pencil box to another room for the test.
“He just fell over the floor while he was walking from his class to the other room. We immediately rushed him to a nearby hospital but he could not survive. The incident is unfortunate and we will fully cooperate with his parents and also with police to take up any investigation. There was no water on the floor as is being alleged,” said school principal, Dr Kavita Sharma.
“His class teacher has given full details to his parents and also to the police about the incident. The boy was not in a hurry to rush to the exam room and was walking. He had arrived late by 10-12 minutes, approximately. The corridor where he fell down had no CCTV coverage,” Sharma said.
Priti Jaiswal, additional district magistrate (city), who had inspected the school on Monday, said the boy was declared “brought dead” at Shanti Gopal Hospital.
“The post-mortem will be carried out by a panel of two doctors. During the inspection, we have come across some irregularities in procedures and we are trying to find out the sequence of events that led to the child’s death. The police will be checking up hospital records,” she said.
SC Dubey, station house officer of Indirapuram police station, said: “We have seized all the disks where CCTV recordings at the school are recorded. The child’s body has been sent for post-mortem,” he said.