Drowned child’s dad submits 14 witnesses’ names to cops, starts online signature drive

KOLKATA: Five days after a four-year-old child with special needs, Sambuddha Ghosh, drowned in the therapy pool at Asha School on the Command Hospital premises in Alipore, his father, Subhajit, submitted the names of 14 witnesses, including that of a key witness, to the police on Monday. Two conversations between school authorities and guardians, ostensibly after Sambhuddha went missing, were also forwarded to the police.

The cops indicated that it had asked the school in writing to furnish the names of all the staff members present at the institute on February 21, the fateful day. “Once we receive the list, the statements will be recorded. A separate set of questions has been sent to a few guardians, asking them to mention any kind of negligence they noticed at the school,” said a senior south division officer.


Cops from the Alipore police station visited the institute on Monday and spoke to some people. But they refused to specify whom they spoke to. The investigating officer in the case, meanwhile, has been changed.

The family said they were considering moving the court to ensure a fair probe if police failed to make progress. “Most guardians are in two minds to talk about the incident. I understand their dilemma, given a large number of them have a defence background. I have support of a couple of parents, who have been attending the candlelight vigil at the Alipore telephone exchange daily. But if the school tries to obstruct the probe, I will knock on the court door. I have faith in the Army that they will carry out a fair probe and fix responsibility,” said Subhajit, an IT executive. “How could they not know that my son was hyperactive? How could no one explain what happened in those 19 minutes?”

The school reportedly finally contacted the family on Saturday and requested them to join a prayer meet for Sambuddha on Monday. Guardians, whose wards attended the meet, said the authorities assured such an incident would not be repeated.

This correspondent’s call to the school principal in the afternoon was disconnected, while a text message asking about the prayer service also remained unanswered.

Sambuddha’s family has also launched an online campaign to demand justice for him. “We have started a signature campaign on Change.org. So far, the response has been satisfactory,” said a family member.

A lawyer representing Sambuddha’s family pointed out that the wider negligence angle had two aspects: one, the father had handed over the child to the classteacher on assurance he would be taken to the school bus and dropped off safely. But the attendant was not there when the child was handed over. Here, lay the question of collective responsibility, he said. Secondly, he said, the school administration did not, even for once, contact the father to explain things, even at the command hospital; it was left to a Group D staffer to take him to hospital. Moreover, the swimming pool should have been locked. “It needs to be established who held its keys and why was it left open on sports day (police complaint mentions this point),” said another lawyer assisting the family.