A fight for a place on the bench leads to the incident

A fight between two students at a school took a tragic turn here in which a 15-year-old student lost his life on Friday.

Akshay Potti (15) and his classmate in class IXth C at St Francis High School, Rane Nagar reportedly fought around 7 am in the school. The brawl is believed to have started for a place on the bench and took an ugly turn with Akshay being rushed to the hospital.

The school authorities informed his parents and took him to Sahyadri Hospital where his father Anilkumar Potti also arrived.

Chief medical officer Dr Khushman Vaidya told reporters that Akshay's condition was 'drowsy arousable' when he was rushed to the ICU. He was responding intermittently and showed respiratory disturbance and was put on a ventilator. His scan indicated internal bleeding in the brain.

His condition was not operable and a conservative line of treatment was adopted. The boy, however, suffered a cardiac arrest at around noon. The doctor explained that there was no external injury.

The body was then taken to the civil hospital for the post mortem where the Potti family, friends and members of the Malayalam Cultural Association (MCA), had gathered in large numbers. Anil Kumar Potti was in an inconsolable situation, having lost his son unexpectedly.

MCA vice-president Vishwanathan Pillay said, "We still do not know what exactly happened in the school. Our boy went to the school as usual. We hear that there was some fight in the class. Bad words were used and Akshay suffered blows on his private parts, chest and head. The school informed his father and he was taken to the hospital but could not survive."

Tension started building up at the civil hospital as the family members refused to take the body home, until the school gave full details of the incident. In the meantime, enraged parents gathered at the school and pelted stones at the school building.

When DNA tried to contact the school authorities, it was informed that the person in authority was not available and that the school was given a holiday.

Although parents, politicians and MCA members waited for nearly six hours for the school authorities to arrive, nobody turned up and at around 6.15 pm, a teacher from a different school run by the same management arrived on the scene but was unable to furnish information.

The police tried to control the enraged mob and commissioner of police (CP) Himanshu Roy intervened asking the school to send a competent authority to speak to the parents. Speaking to the authorities present in the presence of the CP, Pillay expressed the family's displeasure about the school's lukewarm response and asked them to understand their sentiments in their hour of grief. He demanded a detailed explanation from the school and said that the family members wanted to file a case against the school for negligence "so that no child dies such a death in school in the future.''

The parents of the deceased waited till late in the evening to discuss the matter with school management authorities and refused to take the body home.

Police inspector Ravindra Sonawane said that a case was registered at the Ambad police station after a complaint was filed by the boy's father. The other boy involved in the fight has been charged with murder and is likely to be arrested soon.

His condition was not operable and so a conservative line of treatment was adopted. The boy, however, suffered a cardiac arrest around noon. The doctor explained that there was no external injury

Vaishali Balajiwale/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication