A Dhaka court has placed Sharmin Academy’s manager on a four-day remand in connection with a case filed over child abuse at the school in Naya Paltan.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sefatullah passed the order on Tuesday after hearing the investigation officer’s petition to place Pabitra Kumar Barua on remand.
On Friday, Sub-Inspector Md Nur Islam of Paltan Model Police Station sought a five-day remand for him. However, as he was not present in court that day, another Metropolitan Magistrate, Aminul Islam Junaid, sent the accused to jail and fixed Tuesday (today) for the hearing, said SI Rokonuzzaman of the Prosecution Division.
Police arrested Pabitra Kumar from Mirpur on Thursday night. However, the school principal, Sharmin Jahan, who is the main accused in the case and also the wife of Pabitra Kumar, is still at large.
In court, the investigation officer said that seven days after admission, the four-year-old student was tortured, with a stapler forced into his mouth. CCTV footage of the incident was shown in court.
He argued that remand was necessary to arrest the absconding accused and uncover further incidents of abuse.
Public Prosecutor Shamsuddoha Suman told the court that the husband and wife together subjected the child to inhuman torture. He said they should be remanded to ensure proper punishment.
Defence lawyer Abdul Rashid Molla, however, sought cancellation of the remand.
During the hearing, the judge asked Pabitra Kumar why he tortured the student. He denied the allegation and said, “I didn’t beat him, Sir. He was misbehaving.”
The judge then asked, “You are the school’s admin, not a teacher. How could you discipline him?”
Standing in the dock, Pabitra replied, “He spat at another student. I only told him not to spit. I didn’t beat him.”
The judge then said, “You used a stapler on him.” Later, Pabitra denied the allegation. When asked about allegations of withholding the school computer’s password, he remained silent. The court then granted four days’ remand for him.
According to the case statement, two months ago the complainant, the mother of the victim, admitted her four-year-old son to the playgroup section at Sharmin Academy. Classes began on 11 January, and on 18 January she dropped him off in the morning. Around 1 pm, when she went to the school to take back her child, she found Sharmin forcibly holding his hand, while her husband, Pabitra Kumar, sat nearby.
The child appeared pale, frightened, and crying. She took him home, where he repeatedly cried and said, “Mom, Miss beat me, Uncle beat me. I did nothing. If I tell you, they’ll strangle me and sew my mouth shut. I don’t want to go to school.”
The case further stated that she and her husband went back to the school and collected CCTV footage. The footage showed Sharmin dragging the child into her office and physically assaulting him, striking his face and cheeks repeatedly.
