Two days after Modern School, Vasant Vihar, student Akkriti Bhatia died while being taken to hospital after an asthma attack in school, her father Vipin Bhatia lodged a complaint at Vasant Vihar (south) police station on Wednesday.

While a formal FIR is yet to be registered, the family charged the school with criminal negligence and breach of contract, leading to the 17-year-old’s death on Monday. The police have taken statements from the family members and the school nurse, Lily Kutty, who took Akkriti to hospital.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives staged a protest outside the school on Wednesday evening demanding resignation of school principal Goldy Malhotra and nurse Lily Kutty.

Earlier in the morning, students also protested inside the premises — the entire batch of Class XII refused to attend classes. Students claimed principal Malhotra had refused to take responsibility and threatened them with rustication if they spoke with the media.

Sitting at the candlelight vigil outside the school gate later, Akkriti’s mother Vani Bhatia alleged that the school did not have proper medical facilities. “They should keep a nebuliser in the clinic. My daughter could have been saved had they taken timely action,” she said.

A parent, who was part of the protest vigil and is a doctor by profession, said the school should have called an ambulance or given an asthaline injection to Akkriti when her condition began worsening.

‘Principal said not school’s fault’

A Class XII student (all students’ names withheld on request) who protested in the morning and was present at the candlelight vigil said, “She (principal) called all of us to the auditorium this morning and said it wasn’t the school’s fault. She said the school had tried its best. She also warned us (students) that anyone who spoke to the media or staged any other protest would be rusticated.

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