Couple gets Rs 21 lakh as damages for son's death in Tezpur school

GUWAHATI: A Dibrugarh couple on Tuesday donated Rs 21 lakh to Iskcon to build a temple in the eastern Assam town with the compensation they received after a long legal battle over their son's death in a boarding school nine years ago.
The amount was awarded as compensation to Dr Debajit Das and Sharadi Das by an elite residential school after a judgement was passed by the Gauhati high court earlier in June, asking the school management to compensate for the death of their 15-year-old son Ranveer Das in 2011. Ranveer, a meritorious student and a young musician, died after being electrocuted, while practising on his electric guitar, along with his friends, in the music cell of Assam Valley School in Tezpur on June 20, 2011.
The judgment, delivered by Justice Prasanta Kumar Deka on June 8, held that there was negligence in the duty of care by the Assam Valley School and its employees, which caused the unfortunate and preventable death of Ranveer. The high court awarded the compensation of Rs 30 lakh and said the duty of the school authorities includes the preparedness of the said authorities to face a situation of emergency against the hazard that are common and Assam Valley School was not equipped with an infirmary to take care of electrical accidents.
"After deduction of the taxable amount from Rs 30 lakh, we donated Rs 21 lakh to Iskcon's preaching centre in Dibrugarh today (Tuesday) for building a temple. In memory of our son Ranveer, we decided to donate the compensation amount. Our intention was not the money, but justice so that no other student anywhere gets victimised like this. Boarding schools must have the healthcare facilities to meet the medical emergencies of the students. This was a moral victory for us," said the deceased student's mother Sharadi Das. The couple were represented in the court by legal counsel Devashis Baruah.
While the couple has been taking care of the educational needs of several students in Dibrugarh after the death of their son, Ranveer's father Dr Debajit Das, a retired professor and HoD of the ENT department at Assam Medical College, felt that the donation of the compensation amount to the religious and spiritual cause has been most satisfying. "People these days occupied with material thinking. We are making this contribution so that people get driven by spiritual thinking and become sensitive towards others lives," he said.
"It is the responsibility of school authorities to anticipate and identify the source of grave risk surrounding the students while imparting education to them. The assurance of the said duty of care though made by the school authority also binds its servant in the course of performing the said duty of care. Any breach thereof by the servant makes liable the school authority vicariously," read the court's order.