Student ‘beaten to death’ by teachers in Satkhira

A ninth grader died reportedly after being tortured by teachers of his school in Kaliganj upazila of Satkhira on Monday.

A ninth grader died reportedly after being tortured by teachers of his school in Kaliganj upazila of Satkhira on Monday.

Deceased Raj Pratap Das, 15, son of Dinabandhu Das, a resident of Bharashimulia Chandipur area.

A student of the school named Muhammad Jubayer said it was his and another student's birthday, and all of them were in an empty classroom cutting a cake Raj and several others had brought around 10:00am.

All of a sudden, Assistant Head Teacher MA Muhit, assistant teachers Abakash Chandra Kha, Monirul Islam and Sidhartha Roy Chowdhury, and several others barged in and started beating them. At that time, one of the teachers kicked Raj on his chest and then, Jubayer, Raj, and two others were taken to the headteacher's room where they were assaulted again.

"Raj and I then fell to the floor and touched the feet of Headteacher Abdul Monayem and asked for mercy and after a while we were dismissed from the headteacher's room. Subsequently Raj told me that he was feeling unwell and left for home," Jubayer said.

After 20 to 25 minutes, Jubayer heard that Raj had died.

Raj's aunt Taposhi Rani Das said,"My nephew was throwing up and complaining of severe chest pains when he came home. We were taking him to a hospital but he died on the way to the hospital."

Assistant Teacher Abakash said he slapped Raj twice for celebrating birthdays at school, and the other teachers had beaten Raj and the others.

Headteacher Monayem said the students were scolded, not beaten.

He added that he heard about Raj's death several hours later.

He also claimed to have heard that Raj died by suicide out of shame.

Later, hundreds of locals went to the school with Raj's body and demonstrated. They vandalised the headteacher's room and damaged some properties.

Additional Superintendent of Satkhira police Aminur Rahman, (Kaliganj Circle), said the headteacher and three assistant teachers of the school were taken to Kaliganj Police Station for interrogation.

Mamun Rahman, officer-in-charge of the police station, said "It didn't seem like the boy had taken poison, however, the actual reason behind the death will be known after autopsy."