The departmental inquiry ordered into the death of Shanno Khan, a student of the MCD Girls Primary School in Bawana, has given a clean chit to Manju Sharma, the teacher who was accused of making the girl stand in the sun for three hours that led to her death.

The report is based on the statements of teachers and the principal of the school. With parents and local politicians in Bawana forcing a shutdown of the school, the probe committee could not speak to any student, Education Committee chairman Prithviraj Sahni told Newsline on Sunday.

The report of the departmental inquiry, conducted under Education Director Premlata Kataria, has been now submitted to the vigilance department for further inquiry.

The separate vigilance inquiry into Shanno’s death, too, did not progress much with the department not being able to trace the children, according to Sahni.

“The school will open tomorrow, after which the vigilance inquiry should proceed. We had not been able to record the statements of students since they were not coming to school,” said Sahni.

Manju had allegedly punished Shanno for not answering a question in class. The girl’s family had alleged that she had been made to crouch “like a hen” in the sun for three hours and that the teacher had also put bricks on her shoulders when she complained. Shanno reportedly fainted and later slipped into a coma. While the incident occurred on April 15, Shanno died two days later.

Her postmortem report, released on April 23, blamed the death on delayed medical attention after an epilepsy attack. Before taking the unconscious 11-year-old to a hospital, the police said, Shanno’s parents had taken her to a maulvi for treatment.

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