Dehradun murder: Boarding school seniors tortured, beat and stripped minor for spoiling Sunday outing

Bone-chilling details have emerged in the case of a 12-year-old class 7 child beaten to death by his seniors in Home Academy Senior Secondary School in Dehradun’s Ranipokhari on March 10. It was reported that 12-year-old Vasu Yadav was beaten with cricket bats and wickets by two of his seniors from class XII, students of the same school, for allegedly stealing a packet of biscuit because of which the school authorities cancelled a planned Sunday outing for all students.

To teach the child, who was identified as Vasu Yadav, a lesson for “spoiling their Sunday fun”, the two class 12 boys subjected him to far worse torture. As reported by The Print, the minor boy was allegedly made to wrap his arms and legs around a pipe and was thrashed by a bat and stumps by two of his seniors. He was then stripped naked and drenched in cold water. His mouth was then stuffed with biscuits. He was also made to eat rajma chawal at the dining hall. When he asked for water, he was made to drink a bucket full of filthy water from the toilet.

Six hours later, the two seniors allegedly took the minor to the dining hall again. “The two seniors threatened the minor of dire consequences asking him to not complain about them and made him sit in the dining area. They cleaned his face, adjusted his clothes and made him sit in a corner seat,” the investigating officer told The Print.

Within a few hours, the minor school student died of internal haemorrhage.

Even though the child had several injuries all over his body, there were none on his face and upper body. The school tried to pass it off as a case of “food poisoning”, however, the post-mortem report from AIIMS Rishikesh mentioned the minor sustained 17 injuries on his hip, thighs and under his feet.

"The incident took place on March 10 and we were informed about it on March 11, following which we visited the school. However, when we got there, we found that the school administration had buried the body. The school hadn’t informed the father of the child, who lived in a leprosy home at Hapur in Uttar Pradesh about the incident," Usha Negi, the chairperson of the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said.

According to police, the school, in a bid to hush up the matter, had hurriedly buried the boy’s body inside the campus after doctors declared him dead.

The two main accused — Shubhankar (19) and Laxman (19) — one from Punjab and the other from Uttar Pradesh, the minor’s seniors and three of the hostel staff on duty — Ashok, the physical education teacher, Ajay, the hostel warden and Praveen Mesih, from the school administration — were arrested on 23 March. The two main accused are children of leprosy patients.

“While the two class 12 students have been arrested for murder and destruction of evidence, the staff of the school and hostel were arrested under section 201 IPC (disappearance of evidence and giving false information to screen offender),” Ashok Kumar, director general, Law and Order, Dehradun said as reported by the news portal. The arrests were made after the post-mortem report on 22 March established the murder.

The police said that The Children Home Academy is a missionary school which was started in 1974 under a non-profit called Children’s Home Society. It has over 400 students — both hostelers and day scholars. While the hostelers are only those children whose parents stay in leprosy ashrams across the country, the day scholars are children from the surrounding villages.