Mohali: Pupil ‘beaten up’ over food plaint, Daun academy officials booked

Mohali, June 29

The police booked two officials of Minerva Academy, Daun, and an unidentified person for causing voluntarily hurt, criminal intimidation and violation of the Juvenile Justice Act after a 17-year-old student from Nadiad West, Gujarat, allegedly complained of unhygienic food being served in the academy on Wednesday evening.

The two officials have been identified as Hina and Kabir.

In her complaint to the police, the victim’s mother, Shah Ankitaben Chandubai, who reached here from Gujarat via Mumbai today, stated that her son was allegedly beaten up, bundled into a car and dropped at the Sector 43 bus stand in Chandigarh from where he called up the UT police. Cops reportedly handed over the boy to the Balongi police around 9 pm following which an investigation into the case started.

Balongi SHO Parivinkal Grewal said, “On the statement of the victim’s mother, a case under Sections 323, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act was registered at the Balongi police station today. We are investigating into the allegations of the boy being beaten up and forcibly pushed into a car.”

The investigating officer said when he called up an academy official, she did not respond and later switched off the phone. When he took the victim and his mother to the academy for investigation, they were not allowed to enter the academy.

The victim’s mother alleged that her son, an NDA aspirant, was thrown out of the academy after he made a video of chapatis being cooked with the help of a broom and pests in the food and gave a written complaint to the director. “When my son was calling me and the police, they snatched the phone. He had come from Gujarat to take coaching here three weeks ago,” she said.

A security guard at the entry of the academy stated that the boy was told not to use phone and go to the classroom in the evening but he misbehaved with the director and ran away.

Will file appeal against police case

“The allegations levelled against Minerva are completely wrong. The student had misbehaved with a director and teacher of the academy following which he was sacked. Till date, no one has complained about the food being served at the academy. The police case against us is completely wrong. We will appeal against it and also file a defamation case,” said Ranjit Bajaj, Director, Minerva Academy