RAWALPINDI: Sept 19: A schoolboy fell down the stairs and died on Monday while returning to his class room after serving punishment for not doing his home work.

The tragedy in St. Mary Academy in Lalazar locality left everyone in the school stunned and sad.

Principal Patras Bhatti told Dawn that the school's doctor and nurse provided first aid to the unfortunate boy Meher Ali but his critical condition made them rush him to the Combined Military Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

“Yes, Meher Ali and some other students were awarded the ' uthak-baithak' (a constant sit down-stand up exercise) punishment for not doing their home work. But none of them was tortured - not even so much as slapped,” said the principal.

Meher's mother sat mourning him silently in a CMH corridor. She refused to say anything until her husband returned from England where he works.

But Meher's uncle, Sikandar Bakht, took his death to be an accident. “He was a healthy child and had never been treated for fits or anything else. His death was accidental as he fell down while climbing stairs and suffered fatal injuries. We, therefore, don't want to lodge any complaint with the police,” he told Dawn.

Principal Bhatti said that CMH doctors gave 'spinal cord injury' as the cause of death of Meher Ali. “He was a decent child. His school record did not mention any illness,” he said.

Classes continued in the school after the tragedy. The principal said a memorial meeting will be held for Meher Ali in the school after his father arrives from England.

According to the principal, teacher Amir Elahi, who had been associated with the Academy for ten years, gave the punishment, peculiar to the subcontinent, to some students of the junior wing of 7th class for not doing their home work despite repeated warnings.

Meher Ali was climbing the stairs back to his class room when he stumbled and rolled down the stairs, injuring his back.

“From interviews I had with some students and a school peon who witnessed the incident, it emerged that while climbing the stairs the boy was properly holding the railing with one hand and a diary in the other.

“It was when he reached the eighth step that he stumbled and fell down. But he had rolled down four steps when two men held the boy who had a heavy frame,” he said.

Questioned about the punishment policy of the school, the principal said the school administration keeps an eye on excessive punishment but in this tragic case teacher Amir Elahi “apparently had done nothing wrong”.

However, he said, the class teacher should have called the parents to report the waywardness of their pupils.

It was a sad fact too that students do not deliver the letters reporting their weaknesses to their parents, nor provide correct telephone numbers for directly contacting them, said the principal.

A large number of students and friends of Meher Ali gathered at his house in New Lalazar after the school hours.