NAVI MUMBAI: A case has been filed against the principal and a female co-ordinator of Orchid International School in Seawoods sector 42 for allegedly detaining a kindergarten student in the daycare centre for four hours over a pending fee of Rs 1,000, reports George Mendonca.
The 5-year-old boy’s father who filed the complaint, said, “On Jan 28, when I went to pick up my son from school at 12.30pm, he was not in the queue with other students. I inquired with his class teacher, who asked me to speak to the management. I then met principal Vaishali Solani and she told me that my son’s fees were pending. She said as per the school’s policy, he and another student were kept at the daycare centre on the premises over the dues.”
The FIR was filed Thursday at NRI Coastal police station against Solani and the coordinator, identified as Deepti, under the Juvenile Justice Act on a complaint filed by the father who alleged that the school’s approach amounted to cruelty. He also claimed the school’s zonal head Shreeya Shah had promised to sack the principal, but later reneged.
‘School’s zonal head went back on promise to sack the principal’
After several unanswered calls, TOI managed to speak to Shah on the phone on Friday night. She, however, refused to comment saying, “it was not office hours” and asked the reporter to contact her on Saturday.
The boy’s father said that he had already paid Rs 42,000 fees, and the pending amount was only Rs 1,000, as claimed by the school management. “I paid Rs 1,000 on the spot and around 1pm, my son was handed over to me,” he said.
Later, the father asked for the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage of the school premises to know the facts, but the management asked him to send an application via email. “I gave a written application, but the school management dilly-dallied. Hence, I approached Belapur BJP MLA Manda Mhatre, who urged the police commissioner to file a case against the principal and management staff concerned,” the father said.
“After I obtained the CCTV footage, it was found that my son and another student were not allowed to attend class and were locked inside the school’s daycare centre from 8.30am till 12.30pm. After I filed a police complaint, the school’s zonal head Shreeya Shah contacted me and assured me that the principal would be terminated, but she went back on her word,” he added.
The father also submitted a complaint to the Navi Mumbai municipal commissioner and head of NMMC’s education department to inquire into the “harassment” of his five-year-old son.
NRI Coastal police have booked Solani and Deepti under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which outlines the punishment for cruelty to children.