Many people worldwide have come out in support of Indian-American Shaan Pritmani after a video of him being bullied went viral. The video shows Shaan being choked and physically attacked at his middle school.
About 300,000 people have signed a petition started by one Ms Sonia Kukreja demanding “that the aggressor be removed immediately from my son’s school.”
A video has gone viral on the internet which shows Shaan being choked and physically attacked at his middle school. The video, reportedly recorded by one of his classmates, shows a boy at Coppell Middle School in Texas demanding Shaan vacate the seat; Shaan was seen sitting at the lunch table. “No, I’m not getting up. There is literally no one sitting here,” Shaan could be heard saying.
The other student gets angry at Shaan’s refusal to vacate the seat, attacks him, and pushes him against his seat.
The video, which has been shared thousands of times on Twitter, sparked anger and criticism after people came to know that the alleged aggressor of Shaan was suspended for one day while Shaan was suspended for three days.
The petition launched by Ms Kukreja on Change.org said the school called Shaan’s parents and informed them that their son had been in an altercation with another student.
“The school stated that the victim (Shaan) was at fault and received a 3-day ISS, while the aggressor only received a 1-day ISS,” Ms Kukreja wrote.
“Shaan’s friends shared the video of the assault with parents and reached out to inform them that Shaan wasn’t at fault. Shaan’s parents reached out to school authorities, shared the evidence and requested a reassessment. The school informed the parents that they have seen the video and that there will be no change in the course of action. The Coppell ISD SRO officer refused to file a citation because the school administration asked it not be written, as there have been too many bullying complaints lately. The Coppell PD also dropped the ball. The parents tried in vain for over 2 hours to get a complaint filed but were refused,” reads the petition.
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“Shaan’s aggressor in the video is on the wrestling team and can be seen carrying out a very dangerous carotid restraint on Shaan’s neck. This technique restricts blood flow to a person’s brain by compressing the sides of the neck where the carotid arteries are located. Shaan appears to briefly lose consciousness at the end of the neck choke maneuver,” it adds.
The petition demands that the aggressor be removed from the school immediately.
It says, “Shaan should never have to take a class, interact, or pass the hallways with this aggressor ever again. Shaan should be able to continue his school experience, friendships and extra-curricular activities with zero worry of ever having to cross paths with this student again. He does not feel safe.”
“Our goal is to bring awareness to the bullying and assault problem in schools everywhere. All children deserve to be safe at school. Serious repercussions need to be in place for all violence against our children. This type of aggression needs to stop,” concludes the petition.
