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Kolkata: Traumatised
and shocked, the 10-year-old girl who was allegedly made to drink
her own urine in the Visva-Bharati campus as a punishment for
bedwetting is finding it difficult to cope with the situation, her
father said Tuesday.
"She is yet to recover from the shock. She has not been eating
properly. She is having problems coping with life after what
happened with her. The doctors have advised us to keep her happy
and try to help her forget about the incident," Manoj Mistri, the
girl's father, said.
Apprehensive of a repeat of the incident, the girl also does not
want to go back to the school.
"I won't go back to the hostel. I want to study in another school.
They may again ask me to do the same thing. It is so shameful for
me to lick my own urine, said the Class 5 student of Patha Bhavan
school in West Bengal.
Her parents have agreed to her wish.
"After the incident, she is not agreeing to go to the school. What
else can we do? We may get her admitted to another school," said
Mistri.
"Being a 10-year-old, when I do not believe in such superstitions,
how the warden can have faith in such things?" she said.
The Visva-Bharati university authorities have claimed that the
warden, Uma Poddar, asked her to lick the urine since she believed
the practice would cure her of bedwetting.
The authorities, after receiving flak from all quarters on the
issue, have requested the girl's parents to make her a day
scholar.
"We got a call from the university today asking us to take back
our daughter and continue her studies as a day scholar," said
Poonam Mistri, the girl's mother.
Meanwhile, the police, after being rebuked by the court for going
"soft" on the warden, have lodged a case under section 23 of the
Juvenile Justice Act which deals with cruelty to a child and has a
maximum punishment of six months imprisonment or fine or both.
"Following the court's order, we have brought in section 23 of the
Juvenile Justice Act against Poddar," Superintendent of Police (Birbhum)
Rishikesh Meena said.
The incident has attracted severe criticism from all quarters and
also reached the Prime Minister's Office.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has sought
detailed reports from the university and the state government on
the incident.
West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan has also reportedly sought a
report from the university.
Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, describing the
incident inhuman and shameful, said: "People send their children
to hostels hoping they would be taken good care of there. But
after this incident, they may not feel the same.
I don't know how such a superstitious practice can cure
bedwetting. Moreover, how a warden from such a distinguished
university believe in such things?" he said.
According to the complaint filed by the parents, the incident
occurred Saturday evening when Poddar, while on an inspection,
pulled up the girl for bedwetting. She allegedly then sprinkled
salt on the urine and made the girl lick her urine as a
punishment.
After the girl told her mother about the ordeal, her parents and
several other people stormed the hostel premises and allegedly
manhandled Poddar.
Following the incident, the university set up a four-member
fact-finding committee, headed by former dean of students welfare
Aruna Mukherjee, to probe the matter.
Acting on the report, the university relieved Poddar of her duty
as warden.
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