Teacher jailed for injuring student's eye with a pen in Kerala

A Kerala school teacher has been sentenced to a year of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 3 lakh after she was found guilty of causing eye injury to a student of Class 3 by throwing a pen at him for not being attentive in class.  

The incident took place in 2005 at a government school in Thiruvananthapuram. Prosecution lawyer J K Ajith Prasad told DH that the incident occurred on January 18, 2005 at Kandala government school. The teacher threw a ball-point pen at the child accusing him of talking during class and assaulted him later. Though three surgeries were performed on the child, his left eye's vision could not be recovered.

The student is Al Ameen, a native of Maranallor who is now aged 25. The accident hampered his studies and he could not get



a driving licence, the prosecution lawyer said. The convict, identified as Sherifa Shajahan, already retired from service.

A special court for considering crimes against women and children issued the judgment on Thursday.

Prasad said that school authorities tried to cover up the incident by maintaining that the injury was caused while the child was playing. The child told the treating doctors that the injury was caused by the pen thrown by the teacher. All witnesses other teachers of the school turned hostile during the trial but the case could be proved with the help of medical records and statements of the boy and his parents.

Though the teacher was placed under suspension after the incident, a departmental inquiry gave a clean chit to her.