Stir to highlight casualty of corporal punishment

A protest by the Association for the Deaf condemned the death of Raghavaraj, a Class 12 hearing-impaired student at the Santhome CSI Special School for Deaf and Dumb, who was allegedly beaten by the teachers, with an iron rod. After a yearlong struggle, the student succumbed to his injuries on January 25, 2016. The protesters demanded the immediate dismissal of the teachers as well as compensation to the family. 

Raghavaraj’s father Lakshmipathy, a coolie by profession, said that two teachers from the school brutally beat up his son. “My son, Raghava and four of his friends were staying in the hostel. On that day, they decided to go out of the campus to have food. When their teacher Mahesh Devan and his wife Sheela Rani found out, they started threatening the boys. 

Raghava told me that they hadn’t done anything wrong, but the teachers began assaulting him with an iron rod. They beat him severely, especially on his head and shoulders. He had come home that day and told us about this incident. Soon after, he started losing his vision and then, his ability to walk,” recalled the anguished father. 

Lakshmipathy said they immediately rushed Raghavaraj to the hospital. “We took him to the ACS Hospital and later, he was shifted to the Government General Hospital. The doctors there said he could not be cured. So, we took him to Sri Muthukumaran Medical College Hospital in Mangadu. 

They said that Raghava had to be admitted in the ICU. We couldn’t afford it. So, we brought him home. He refused to go back to school and he would get up screaming in the middle of the night,” he rued, adding that he had to stop working to take care of his son. 

Raghava’s aunt, Mohana, who was also present at the protest, recalled the deceased as an intelligent boy. “Raghava studied well and he was sent from class 6 directly to class 8. He was the only boy in the class, who could speak a little. 

After the incident, he told us that he tried to take pictures but the teachers took away the memory card. We tried going to the school authorities, but they didn’t give us an answer. The other boys with Raghava were threatened to not blame the teachers, failing which they would be dismissed,” she said.