“Tears rolled down my cheeks when I heard my son tell me what happened to him at school,” says Jeevanlatha mother to the 8 year-old student at Delhi Public School Bangalore (East). Her son was down with bad muscle cramps and has been prescribed pain killers and ORS. He could only go back to school after three days of rest.

“The doctor said that 300 sit-ups is too much even if the kid commits a crime,” she said.

On Monday, 10 July, 8 year-old Sai was waiting in a queue for his turn during the scheduled hobby period. He had enrolled himself in badminton, run by the prestigious Prakash Padukone Sports Management, an affiliate of the famous Prakash Padukone Sports Academy.

According to Jeevanlatha, the Coach asked her son to immediately start doing 300 sit-ups for having crossed a line that he had asked the students to stand behind.

“Unknowingly, my son seems to have crossed some line marker there. A girl then reported to the coach that he crossed the line. The coach asked my boy to do 300 Situps. My poor boy was already dizzy as he doesn’t take his meals properly.  He diligently did 255 sit-ups and after that he could only get up with friends help and could not walk. After coming home I gave him some paracetamol. He didn’t sleep the whole night because of pain and some fever too.”

On Thursday, when the parents went to meet the vice principal, the coach was also called and made to relate the incident. They played the video footage from the CCTV camera placed within the badminton court that shows the boy standing in line.

“This was after my punishment,” said Sai categorically. Ironically, the CCTV camera’s position is such that the spot where the punishment was given isn’t covered.

The coach (name withheld) is reported to have lied saying that it was 20 sit-ups and not 300.

“Luckily, Nidhi madam the co-ordinator backed me up and said that there were other kids too. Some of whom did 100 sit-ups. That’s when the academy representative climbed down and apologised. He said that he would remove the coach,” said the mother.

At a time when punishments are being banned by most schools this coach’s inhuman punishment seems to have fuelled the rage of parents who send their kids to the same school. The shocked parents are now looking to change his hobby classes fearing that he would be unnecessarily targeted.

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