Pune: A sessions court at Khed has acquitted a teacher of a spiritual boarding school at Alandi of the charges of attempted murder and culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the death of an 11-year-old Std V student allegedly due to medical complications arising out of an assault in the classroom.The alleged assault took place 10 to 11 days prior to the registration of the FIR by the Alandi Devachi police station on Feb 20, 2020, based on a complaint from the student’s mother. The victim died on March 27, 2020, while under treatment at a private hospital. The accused, who was arrested on the day of the registration of the FIR, was released on bail on Jan 11, 2023.Additional sessions judge A S Sayyad, in a judgment pronounced on Feb 16, found that the prosecution evidence was “brittle and scanty which is insufficient to establish the charge against the accused beyond all reasonable doubt. The prosecution therefore failed to establish the charge against the accused.”The court questioned the basis for the application of the culpable homicide charge while observing that in a case of assault by a teacher on a student with a small stick, the medical certificate of the doctor who first treated the deceased was absent in respect of the nature of injury being simple or grievous.Moreover, the seven fellow students, who were presented as witnesses in front of whom the alleged assault took place, did not support the prosecution case during the trial. The court also cited gaps in the evidence of some of the witnesses.“This appears a failure of the investigating officer while carrying out the proper investigation in the case. It would not be outplace to state that the investigation regarding the crime is not properly conducted and it seems not free from doubt,” the court said.
