The video, shot by fellow students and shared online, sparks anger on social media; petition supporting the boy gets more than 1.5 lakh signatures
An Indian-American boy was held in a chokehold and allegedly bullied by a white student in a school in the US state of Texas, according to a media report, a report in The Tribune, says.
The incident happened during lunch at Coppell Middle School North in Texas on May 11, according to NBC 5.
In a viral video, the Indian-American student sitting at a table is seen being put in a headlock by a white student, the report said.
In the video, a student can be seen asking the Indian-American boy to get up from his seat. When the Indian-American boy refused, he was choked and forcefully removed from the seat.
Meanwhile, other students could be heard reacting to the violence but not stopping it,
“It was horrible. I couldn’t sleep for three nights straight. It felt like I was being choked. I cried many times watching it,” said Sonika Kukreja, mother of the student who was bullied.
The school authorities, however, chose to punish the Indian-American student harshly by suspending him for three days while the aggressor received a suspension of one day, parents Sonika and Kamlesh Pritmani of the bullied boy said.
“I am deeply concerned about the safety of our children and the message our school board, our police department, is sending out by not acting on this,” said the parents
In an email to parents, Coppell ISD’s Superintendent Dr Brad Hunt said in part, “Coppell ISD is aware of a video circulating on social media showing an incident at Coppell Middle School North involving a physical altercation between two students. Bullying, both verbal and physical, as well as physical acts of aggression are never acceptable and do not align with who we are at CISD and our core values.”
Marwa Elbially, the attorney for the Pritmani family, says the violence should never have happened.
“The school can preach all it wants that they’re anti-bullying and place it on their website, but they are sending a message to this kid and the rest of the student body that this behaviour is acceptable,” said Elbially.
Mark Lassiter, the attorney for the family of the other student, told NBC 5 that the student was responding to vulgar and violent threats against his family.
The video, shot by fellow students and shared online, has sparked anger on social media. An online petition supporting the boy has received more than 1.5 lakh signatures.
**************************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com