Suspended boy's parents to challenge Kerala High Court order in division bench

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The parents of the plus-two student who was dismissed from St Thomas Central School, Thiruvananthapuram, for a ‘prolonged hug’ of a junior girl have decided to challenge the single bench order of the High Court which upheld the decision of school authorities. The court had also quashed the interim order of the child rights commission which held the school’s decision to expel the two students illegal. “We have decided to challenge the order before the division bench,” the student’s father, who has quit his job to provide emotional support to his son, told DC. “We will fight for my son’s right to education and right to privacy as the school authorities hacked his Instagram account despite privacy settings.” The boy is now preparing for his board exams.

The row over the expulsion erupted last week when reports of the high court judgment upholding the decision of the school based on a complaint by a teacher who reportedly witnessed the boy hugging the girl after she performed in a western music competition on July 21 appeared in the media last week. The school authorities had summoned the parents despite the students giving written apologies. The father of the boy recalled the abusive way Rajan Verghese, secretary of the Mar Thoma Educational Society addressed his child as ‘vithukala’ (bull in heat).

“He even asked me to kill my son,” told DC. “How can he talk to a father like that?”He said he is yet to collect the transfer certificate from the school. The boy’s mother, an LLM student, told DC that her son is an only child and has always been an above average student. The girl and her family are yet to talk to the media and have not lodged a complaint against the school. It is understood that two younger silings of the girl are studying in the same school. Meanwhile, Mr Verghese said the boy can write the board examination in March in the school if the CBSE Board and the court granted him permission to do so.