Seniors kill boy, school authorities bury body inside campus: Police
Dehradun: A class seven student was allegedly hacked to death by his seniors and his body buried by school authorities inside the campus near Rishikesh to hush up the matter, police said Thursday.
The incident took place on March 10 but it came to light after the intervention of the Uttarakhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti said.
The 12-year-old boy, whose parents are residents of Hapur, was allegedly beaten up with cricket bats and wickets by his seniors as they considered him responsible for denial of permission by school authorities to leave the campus, the SSP said.
The boy had stolen some biscuits during an outing, prompting the school authorities to stop all students from leaving the campus as a punishment.
He was tortured for hours by his seniors in the afternoon and was later taken to the hospital, where he was declared brought dead by doctors, Kukreti said.
Instead of reporting the matter to police immediately, the boy's body was buried inside the campus by the school authorities to cover up the matter, she said.
They did not even inform the boy's parents who live in Hapur, the SSP said.
Five people, including the school manager, warden, physical training teacher and two students of the school, have been arrested in connection with the incident and booked under different sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder), Kukreti said.
After the matter came to light, the body was exhumed by police on Tuesday to conduct a postmortem to ascertain the cause of his death.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
