20 students beaten up by rep in Arunachal school; children's panel expresses anguish
Itanagar, Dec 11: The Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (APSCPCR) on Monday expressed anguish over corporal punishment meted out to 20 children in a school in the state recently.
APSCPCR member secretary Khoda Rakhi who visited the school at Seijosa in Pakke Kessang district during the day along with senior officials to inquire into the matter said the in-charge of the school should be arrested.
The trust which runs the school has terminated the service of the in-charge.
During the inquiry, the team which included Seijosa additional deputy commissioner T R Tapu, sub-divisional police officer S C Norbu, Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member Nabam Petru, interacted with the victims as well as their parents.
The team found that 20 students from Class 1 to 4, were subjected to physical abuse by the school in-charge Sadhvi Devkriti during class hours on December 7, Rakhi said in a statement, here.
The students were also threatened with dire consequences if the incident was reported to their parents, she said.
The parents learnt of the matter when they saw bruises on their children's body, she added.
The secretary general of the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust which runs the school terminated the services of Sadhvi Devkriti on December 10.
The commission, however, has said that terminating the service is not enough.
"She should be immediately arrested and booked under appropriate sections of law and awarded appropriate punishment," the APSCPCR said in the statement.
The commission has been from time to time submitting recommendations to the state government for strict verification of character antecedents of all the employees under both government and private educational institutes to minimise such instances of violation of child rights.
The commission stated that the Acharyakulam School has not yet been registered though it has been running since 2019.
The panel sought strict action by the education department against the management of the school.
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Syria says Israeli strikes leave 18 dead in the biggest toll since the war in Gaza began
Masyaf (Syria), Sep 9: The number of people killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Syria has risen to 18 with dozens more wounded, Syria's health minister said on Monday — the largest death toll in such an attack since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
One of the sites targeted was a research centre used in the development of weapons, a war monitor said. Syrian officials said civilian sites were targeted.
Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria linked to Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Those strikes have become more frequent as Hezbollah has exchanged fire with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel's war against Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — in Gaza.
However, the intensity and death toll of Sunday night's strikes were unusual.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. The strikes often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups.
Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, particularly since Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to Hezbollah.
Israeli strikes hit several areas in central Syria, damaging a highway in Hama province and sparking fires, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
Speaking to reporters, Syrian Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabbash described the strikes as a “brutal and barbaric aggression”. He said the death toll had risen to 18 with nearly 40 wounded.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said 25 were killed, including at least five civilians, while the others included Syrian army soldiers and members of Hezbollah and other Iran-linked armed groups.
One strike targeted a scientific research centre in Masyaf, and others struck sites where “Iranian militias and experts are stationed to develop weapons in Syria”, the observatory said. It said the research centre was reportedly used for developing weapons, including short- and medium-range precision missiles and drones.
Minister of Electricity Mohammad al-Zamel said the strikes had caused “truly significant” damage to water and electricity infrastructure.
“This brutal attack targeted civilian targets, and the martyrs were mostly civilians, as were the wounded,” he said.
Local media also reported strikes around the coastal city of Tartous, which the observatory said were the result of air defense missiles falling.
On Monday afternoon, a charred car remained at the scene of one strike and smoke was still rising from some spots where fires had been put out.
