Indian boy bullied in US school suspended for 3 days, while the 'white' bully gets away with one day; Indians back home not happy

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, May 19

A video of an Indian-American boy held in a chokehold and allegedly bullied by a white student in a school in the US state of Texas has not only gone viral but has also raked up a debate.

The video, shot by fellow students and shared online, has sparked anger on social media back home. They are not happy as they feel it was not fare that the bully ‘white’ student got away easily while the Indian student who was bullied was suspended for three days. The video shows the boy getting assaulted and choked. He was also dragged out of the bench on which he was sitting.

An online petition supporting the boy has received more than lakhs signatures.

Supreme Court lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha uploaded the video on his Twitter handle as he wrote, “to see that Shaan Pritmani of Indian origin was harassed & bullied on camera at Coppell School, Dallas. Instead of the accused getting punished, Shaan got suspended for 3 days."

The incident happened during lunch at Coppell Middle School North in Texas on May 11, according to NBC 5.

In a viral video, the Indian-American student sitting at a table is seen being put in a headlock by a white student, the report said.

In the video, a student can be seen asking the Indian-American boy to get up from his seat. When the Indian-American boy refused, he was choked and forcefully removed from the seat.

Disturbing footage of Shaan Pritmani, a middle school student, being assaulted and choked for over four minutes by a white student.

The incident took place in a suburb of Dallas, Coppell Middle School. Shaan received three days of suspension while the assaulter received one day pic.twitter.com/9ELVbpPkgp

— North American Association of Indian Students (@NAAISORG) May 17, 2022

Meanwhile, other students could be heard reacting to the violence but not stopping it, according to the video.

“It was horrible. I couldn't sleep for three nights straight. It felt like I was being choked. I cried many times watching it,” said Sonika Kukreja, mother of the student put in the headlock.

The authorities, however, chose to punish the Indian-American student harshly by suspending him for three days while the aggressor received a suspension of one day, parents Sonika and Kamlesh Pritmani said.

“I am deeply concerned about the safety of our children and the message our school board, our police department, is sending out by not acting on this,” said Kukreja.

“We need fair treatment for every kid and we need that bullying to be stopped,” said Pritmani.

enough people aren’t talking about this. this is so disgusting and plain racism. no kid should go through this https://t.co/ijBy4x2gUU

— vi 🦕 (@vibingvi) May 18, 2022

absolutely unbelievable https://t.co/I3tstIWKYj

— dhwani (@dhwanisaraiya_) May 18, 2022

#CoppellISD The student could have died from chokehold. This is nothing but an assault. Hope parents are pursuing legal avenues! https://t.co/QCyImpNgWr

— Raja Kakani (@RajaSKakani) May 17, 2022

Totally unacceptable response from the Coppell Middle School. This incident needs to be handled by cops. Boils my blood just reading about this. https://t.co/swC7NJWvAO

— RB (@aquarian78) May 17, 2022

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