Teacher hits autistic boy in Noida school, held; FIR names principal

Noida: Impatient, abusive and not shy of raising his hand to reprimand, he came across as everything that a special educator should not be.
This private school teacher — whose job was to handhold specially abled kids — was arrested on Saturday after a video shared widely on WhatsApp groups showed him losing his cool with a 10-year-old student during one of his classes.
An FIR was registered not just against the teacher, but the principal and vice-principal of Green Ribbon International School in Sector 55 as well after the student's parents approached the authorities on Saturday.
The child's mother said the incident occurred on Wednesday, emphasising that her son depended on appropriate care from the school staff and required special attention because of his autism.
"My son has been going to Green Ribbon since July last year. He is a child with special needs — who requires extra care, empathy, and sensitive behaviour to say the least. But on Wednesday, he was subjected to extremely inhumane behaviour at school. The special educator, Anil Kumar, did not think twice before thrashing my child," she sobbed.
The student's mother learnt about the assault after a video was uploaded on the parents' WhatsApp group.
"I probably would have not known about it had the video not been shared on our WhatsApp group. It is clearly visible — he attacked my son repeatedly despite knowing the fact that they are special children and take time to understand things," she added.
Pankaj Sharma, the school principal, confirmed that disciplinary measures had been taken against the special educator.
"Anil Kumar was suspended from the school after we came to know about the incident. He was handed over to police as well. The school is cooperating with cops on the matter," said the principal said.
The basic education department also intervened to examine the circumstances leading to the incident. "The matter will be investigated, and a notice will be issued to the school," said Rahul Panwar of the department.
Officials insisted they would not just scrutinise the teacher's conduct, but also determine any lapses on the part of the school, if any.
Ashish Kumar Singh, the district officer for Empowerment of Divyangjan promised a thorough probe into the teacher's credentials.
"We will check if the teacher has the required qualification and a certificate from Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), which is mandatory for all special educators. The department will investigate the matter further," he said.
Police said they had lodged an FIR against Kumar, principal Sharma, vice-principal Sonika Dubey and Shalini, another staff member, under BNS sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of peace) and provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015, and Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
"The accused teacher is in police custody. Further investigation has been initiated," said Amit Kumar, the SHO of Sector 58 police station. "We will investigate the roles of all those named in the FIR and ascertain the adequacy of the school's policies for children with special needs."
The FIR alleged that Kumar would often come to school drunk.
"They (the school management) had accepted that the teacher drinks liquor in excessive quantity. At times, he would come drunk even during school hours," the FIR at Sector 58 police station said.
"He is a special child who cannot understand his daily routine and needs special care. Special children are taught in this school, which is why we got the child admitted there," read the FIR.
"The school management assured us that our son was safe there. The child is extremely scared due to this incident. This inhumanity of the school towards a child with special needs is not only a crime in law, but also against the humanity," the FIR said.