Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) schools are meant to offer a chance to gifted but underprivileged students to get a leg up in life but the JNV Mawphlang was where the life of one such boy was snuffed out before his prime in a case of electrocution.
The Class 11 student, Nathaniel Sohtun, was staying in one of the hostels where he died on Sunday afternoon while taking a bath. Sohtun was a resident of Laban and had joined the school only recently after passing this year’s Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination in the first division.
The incident occurred in the afternoon, with Sohtun’s parents informed that their son had fallen ill at around 4pm. While they were on their way to the school they received further information that Sohtun had died while taking a bath.
After returning home with the body of the boy and in consultation with Laban police station, the family agreed to conduct a post-mortem examination to ascertain the actual cause of death.
According to K Miza, father of the deceased student, a month ago the students had complained to the school authorities that there was something wrong with the electricity in the school but no action was taken.
However, school principal Neelam Sharma said that the school authorities are in a fix over the incident and investigation into the death by the police is on.
“There is no naked wire…we don’t know how it happened. The teachers, students are in shock,” Sharma said, adding that classes have been cancelled for an indefinite period.
According to her, the grievances received by her concerning the electricity was that there was no power in one of the houses due to a hailstorm and electricians were then hired and the problem was fixed.
The students of the school said that a month ago they had written to the principal about the faulty power situation in the institution, urging the authorities to rectify it.
The students stated that whenever it rains an electric current is transmitted through the water due to rainfall in at least two hostels and when the fans are switched on they emit smoke. The students said that they are living in fear due to this.
The parents, while expressing their grief over the incident, urged the authorities to fix responsibility for the incident. According to them, the principal had told them that the issues in the students’ complaint were being attended to.
“To know if the principal or any other authorities had processed the complaint to rectify the problem, responsibility should be fixed,” the parents added while wondering whether a delay had resulted in the loss of Sohtun. “In this case, a precious life was lost, so who do we punish?”
