Imphal, November 06: Little Flower School authorities have categorically denied the assault and torture case registered by the parents of a Standard IX students with the Manipur Human Rights Commission.

The mother of Arina Longjam Bino had pleaded with the Commission that her daughter was severely beaten up by three teachers and ordered to stand in the sun after accusing her of stealing a gold necklace.

She was reported to have undergone mental trauma after the incident and needing psychiatric counselling. The three teachers and school authorities definitely looked baffled after reading the charges which appeared in newspapers today.

The charges, they told media persons, were a contortion of the truth and designed to tarnish the good image of the esteemed school.

The class teacher, S Bijaya, one of the accused, admitted that Arina was detained with her fellow classmates after a gold necklace was found missing from the bag of a student inside the classroom.

However, nobody was named suspect and the matter was dropped.

The parents of the girl who lost the necklace admitted it as their fault since school rules disallow gold ornaments inside the premise.

Contrary to her mother's allegations, the teachers swore that Arina, who is on the brink of termination due to poor academic performance, was not even touched or verbally reprimanded.

Punishing her in the open for two and half hours was highly improbable as the incident happened during the closing hours, she said.

Many classmates were witnessed to the truth, she added.

In fact, some of her friends paraded before the media corroborated with the statements made by their teachers.

From their stories, Arina was a trouble monger and fibber.

Before the gold disappearance, she allegedly borrowed a big sum from her friends on different pretext.

She had promised to make the repayment after pawning some gold nuggets.

Her classmates saw her holding the bag but not the necklace and the same was related to the teachers.

Sister Superior, Sister Babel stated that after interviewing the students, the school authority learnt of Arina's abnormal financial needs and summoned her mother for a private discussion over it.

She made it clear that the gold theft was never the issue for the meeting, which ultimately did not materialise as several inconveniences crept in.

She stopped coming to school from that day and the news report were the first correspondence from their side, Sister Babel added.

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