‘Kandivli school principal pushed our child into depression’

Krishna Nimesh Sheth 16 a sports enthusiast holds 107 medals and is even named in the Limca Book of Records He is the only visually challenged child in India to pursue Taekwondo for which he has also won many accolades However his family claims that constant taunts by his previous principal pushed him into such a state of depression that he lost interest in studies as well as sportsHis aunt and guardian Tarlika Mehta a Kandivli resident has filed a complaint against the principal and trustees of Swami Vivekanand International School and Junior College at Kandivli police station She has accused the principal Saibala Shetty of mentally harassing KrishnaMehta has been taking care of her nephew since he was six ldquoKrishna was born blind Growing up his talent became visible in sports and he was also very good at studies His first race in the community sports competition was at the age of six and he secured the first positionrdquo she told midday Krishna who has been certified completely blind is exceptionally good in Taekwondo and aspires to represent India in the Olympics she addedTaunts by principalKrishna was admitted to Swami Vivekanand International School in 2011 and he was one of three visually impaired children He started participating in various sports competitions and achieved great success in school and seeing his talent the management waived his feesldquoTill Std V the then principal took care of Krishna and helped him in every way possible When he was in the secondary section the management changed and its behaviour towards Krishna was not good Krishna stopped getting the facilities provided to him earlier Principal Shethy taunted him for being differentlyabled and would say that he was given pity marksrdquo the aunt claimedShethy stopped providing a writer for Krishna for his exams too Mehta alleged ldquoBecause of all this his mental condition started deteriorating We took him to a doctor who said sometimes therersquos a spark in his brain due to which he becomes blank for a certain time He recovers after a little rest This was the reason that we got him out of this school after he passed Std IX and admitted him to St Rocks High in Borivli last year in Std XldquoWe thought everything would be fine in the new school but Krishnarsquos morale has deteriorated and he lost interest in studies and other activities He has become irritable and doesnrsquot talk to anyone at homerdquo she addedComplaint against ShethyMehta said she wrote a complaint to the Kandivli police senior officers of North Region police including additional commissioner and deputy commissioner of police Zone XII last month She demanded that police register an FIR against Swami Vivekanand Schoolrsquos trustees and principal under IPC and Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act and Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act ldquoThe Kandivli police told me to approach the Charity Commissioner Maharashtra for further action The police recorded my statement on February 8 but they have still not taken any actionrdquo Mehta saidPrincipal Shethy speaksldquoI am surprised that Krishnarsquos aunt has made such baseless allegations against me and my institution Krishna is a role model for us and our students He was our pride and was the brightest most brilliant and talented student we ever had He has won many gold medals in various sports for our school Who would not want such a student to stay in their schoolrdquo Shethy said ldquoThe importance and care our teacher and counsellor has given Krishna perhaps no one else would have We have more than 5000 students of which more than 300 are differentlyabled but till today no parents have made such allegations The police have recorded my statement We have given all the documents related to Krishna ldquoKrishnarsquos aunt told me that they were shifting to Gujarat and had applied for his leaving certificate We gave him thatrdquo he addedPolice speakSenior Inspector Dinkar Jadhva of Kandivli police station said they are also taking the opinion of the legal team for further investigationNew principal speaksTejinder Bakshi the principal of St Rockrsquos School said Krishnarsquos mental condition was not too good in the beginning ldquoWe tried very hard and the experts counselled him Now his mental condition is improvingrdquo he addedAbout KrishnaKrishna Sheth has won 45 gold 35 silver and 27 bronze medals at district state national and international levels in different kinds of sports The National Association for the Blind had issued a magazine in 2016 on Krishnarsquos achievement in various fields and named him a lsquoWonder Kidrsquo