KOLKATA: A four-year-old child with special needs drowned on Wednesday in a specialized pool at a school run by the Army’s Eastern Command, on the premises of the Command Hospital in Alipore . The parents of Sambuddha Ghosh have alleged negligence, questioning how the child gained access to the pool, used to provide hydrotherapy.The Asha School has been running since July 1, 1991, under the patronage of the regional president, Army Wives Welfare Association, Eastern Command. It is primarily meant for children of defence personnel (both combatants and civilians) with special needs. According to a senior officer, this is the first time such an incident has been reported from the school.On Wednesday, Sambuddha reached school — where the annual sports meet was on — at 8am, accompanied by his father Subhojit, who works with an IT major. In the course of the next few hours, the child stood second in one of the events, and Subhojit handed him over to his class teacher around 12.30pm. School authorities said that a schoolbus would, as usual, drop Sambuddha home.“Subhojit told the class teacher that he must leave for office, but Sambuddha should be taken to the bus by a caregiver. He was paying extra fees to employ this caregiver, who had been arranged by the school. He left the school compound around 12.45pm,” said Rajiv Bhattacharya, a relative.Barely 10 minutes later, however, Subhojit received a call from a worried guardian who told him that his son was missing, added Bhattacharya. “He rushed back and found school staff searching the hydrotherapy pool. They soon brought out an unconscious Sambuddha, who was declared dead by doctors at the command hospital.”According to a source, the doors to the pool area are to remain shut when there is no activity. This point was raised by the boy’s relatives, who questioned how he could have gone there without supervision.Bhattacharya squarely blamed the school authorities. “It was negligence that led to the death,” he said. “How else could the boy have got near the pool on his own? Why did they keep the doors open? What really hurt us was that despite repeated calls to the principal, he did not receive our calls. Even the vice-principal, the class teacher and other teachers did not speak to us even once, with Army officials saying we should write down our grievances and submit them to the authorities. We plan to register an FIR at Alipore police station by Thursday morning.”When contacted, an Army officer said: “We can understand the pain of the parents and have sought a report from the school authorities. Action will be taken if there was any negligence on anybody’s part. The matter will be probed at the highest level.”The child’s body was taken to SSKM Hospital for autopsy. “We have not received any formal complaint yet. A case of unnatural death has been registered at the Alipore police station. We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” said DC (south) Meeraj Khalid. South Division police sources said that prima facie, a strong case of negligence can be made out. “We have found that the caregiver was negligent,” said a senior police officer.Hydrotherapy involves stimulation and gentle exercise in warm water at a constant temperature of 32 °C. Hydrotherapy pools tend to be purpose-built with a constant or very gradual water depth of around 1 metre. Pools usually incorporate multi-sensory equipment, such as lighting and sound, to stimulate the senses. According to a source, the doors to the pool area are to remain shut when there is no activity. Parents have questioned how the child gained access to the area.

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