Vizag teacher arrested, sent to 14-day custody over UKG boy’s death | Vijayawada News
Visakhapatnam: A teacher at a private school was arrested by Vizag city police on Tuesday in connection with the death of UKG student T Pranay Teja and was later remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody by a court in Vizag. Police altered the case and invoked provisions of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).For context, Six-year-old Pranay Teja had collapsed in the classroom and died after allegedly being slapped by his teacher for not completing his homework on Aug 20. The incident occurred at Little Garden English Medium School in Town Kotharoad locality under the One Town police station limits.“Initially, we registered a case of suspicious death under Section 194 of the BNSS. After investigation, the case was altered to Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act (punishment for cruelty to a child) and Section 105 of the BNS (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder),” police said.The arrested teacher was identified as D Kusuma, a native of One Town locality in Vizag. Police said they would produce her before the court for further proceedings.Pranay Teja’s parents, Krishna Prasad, a cook, and Sai Lakshmi, a homemaker, stated in their complaint that their son collapsed after the teacher admonished him for not completing his homework. The parents and relatives staged a protest on Aug 20, demanding stringent action against those responsible for his death.“Our house has been plunged into gloom after the sudden demise of my son Pranay Teja. Our eyes are red and tear stains are evident in how much we are missing Teja,” said Krishna Prasad, Pranay Teja’s father. He said the family was relieved after police altered the sections in the case and initiated action against the person responsible for Teja’s death.The school education department has constituted a three-member committee comprising the regional joint director (RJD), district educational officer (DEO) and revenue divisional officer (RDO) to conduct a comprehensive probe into the incident. The committee will visit the school and interact with students and teachers before preparing a report, officials said.
