In a shocking act of cruelty and corporal punishment, a language teacher of a government school in Annur sat on a boy for 40 minutes in order to punish him.

The teacher, Marappan from the Government High School in Kembanaickenpalayam in Annur, had also reportedly said that he did not want to see S. Pravin Kumar, the student who was on the receiving end of the punishment, anymore.

The incident was brought to light by the student’s mother, G. Parimala, a resident of Karegoundampalayam in Annur, who, unable to bear the brutality of the teacher, filed a petition with the District Collector T.N. Hariharan about the incident, on Monday.

Claiming that Marappan had been constantly harassing her son, Parimala said that teacher was also reportedly forcing the family to get the boy out of the school.

“He has given numerous punishments to my son including asking him to get out of the class frequently, beating him, and even taking an entire class by sitting on top of my son,” she said.

Parimala added that when she took the matter to the school authorities, the punishments had only increased. “When I went to complain, the teacher said that he would not repeat it, but the punishments became more severe. My son comes home and complains everyday about the abuse, and I’m unable to do anything,” she said.

The troubles worsened when Marappan became the class teacher of Class VII, where Pravin Kumar is currently studying.

“Now he wants us to get the transfer certificate and take our son out of the school. Most schools have completed their admission processes. Where can we go now? My husband is a daily labourer and I’m a homemaker. We cannot get him admitted to another school now,” she complained.

She also added that when she took the issue to the school principal, he did not take any actions.

However, R. Nehru, the principal of the school, has denied the allegations claiming that it was the parents who wanted to take the son away from the school.

“Such allegations are baseless, and we do not beat the children. No one asked her son to leave the school,” he told the Covai Post.