Mumbai: Almost four months after a 16-year-old speech and hearing-impaired boy was allegedly beaten to death by four fellow inmates at David Sassoon Industrial School and Children’s Home in Matunga, the in-charge superintendent of the facility has been suspended.
Satish Bansode, deputy chief officer of the children’s home and the in-charge superintendent, was suspended on Wednesday after an inquiry found him guilty of negligence.
The suspension order was issued by Vijay Khsirsagar, chief officer, Children’s Aid Society, Mumbai on the direction of deputy commissioner (child development) women and child development department, Pune.
The deceased teenager, identified as Haswan Rajkumar Nishad, was admitted to the Children’s Home at Matunga on August 6. After the Covid pandemic, every new entrant at the Matunga home was kept separate from the others in order to prevent any possible spread of the virus. The 16-year-old too was kept in one corner of a hall.
On August 16, he lost control of his bowel movements and defecated in the hall. Unable to clean himself, he became an easy target of the bullies. On the day of the incident, while the other children moved away after some time, four boys ganged up in the common hall of the facility and allegedly kicked and punched the boy repeatedly. As he could not speak clearly, the boy did not scream.
The warden found him unconscious and took him to Sion Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The post-mortem report revealed that the victim had died of severe internal injuries and trauma.
The entire episode was captured in CCTV cameras. A case was registered and the four boys were moved to Dongri Remand Home. Later, two of them were found to be over 18 years of age and placed under arrest.
Following the incident, the district women and child development officer conducted an inquiry and submitted a report to the authority concerned. “Based on the report, it was observed that in the isolation hall where Nishad was kept, the superintendent was not expected to keep the four teenagers in the same hall,” sources said. Besides this, Bansode did not deploy a responsible person for the monitoring of CCTV cameras installed in the facility.
Meanwhile, sources said that the employees’ union of the Children’s Aid Society alleged that during the inquiry, the in-charge superintendent was not given an opportunity to explain his side regarding the incident.
When reached out to Shobha Shelar, district women and child development officer, she did not respond to the query and only confirmed Bansode’s suspension. When contacted Bansode, he refused to comment on the matter.
Earlier, an initial inquiry by the children’s home found the security guard, Ganesh Pujari, who was posted at the isolation room, guilty of negligence. “He did not take adequate precautionary measures for children’s safety,” stated the FIR, which was filed by Bansode in September.
The Shivaji Park police took efforts to trace the family of the boy, but in vain. On October 31, following due process the police cremated the boy’s body.