Kushinagar accident: Police say school was unrecognised, driver inexperienced

The manager and principal of Divine Mission School, K J Khan, where the students studied, was arrested and sent to jail on Friday. Amongst the charges slapped against him are IPC sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (endangering life of others), 304 (culpable homicide) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy).

“The fact that he was running an unrecognised school and allowed van without proper documentation to ferry students saw the charge of criminal conspiracy against him,” said Bishunpur police station house officer (SHO) Sanjay Kumar Singh.

Without recognition, it was allegedly a neighbouring school that gave transfer certificates to students of Divine Mission School.

District Inspector of Schools, Kushinagar, Uday Mishra said, “As per the information given to me, the school had classes till grade VIII and the Seth Bansi Dhar School was giving certificates to students of this school but a detailed inquiry would reveal further facts.”

The Basic Education Department issued a fresh reminder on Friday to all the District Basic Education officers to check unrecognised schools in their respective regions and take action.

“We have regularly conducted drives against unrecognised schools and have taken action against those we have detected,” said Sarvendra Vikram Singh, Director, Basic Education Department. When asked if they had any information on Divine Mission School during previous drives, Singh said he had no knowledge of it.

Meanwhile, he said, the driver Niyaz Ansari had got his driving licence just over a month ago. “The Supreme Court had ruled that only drivers with at least five years of experience to drive school vehicles,” he added. Ansari’s age is also being questioned. While police were told he was 22 years old, this would also be looked into during the detailed inquiry, SHO Singh said.

Out of the four students admitted at BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur soon after the accident, two were reported to be out of danger Friday. The other two are still unconscious, while the driver Niyaz Ansari remains critical.