NEW YORK
A group of Indians and Nepalese who represent the Sherwood College Alumni – a boarding school in India – participated in a peaceful candlelight march in the city Dec. 6 to demand justice for student Shaan Prajapati, who died last month from complications of pneumonia. Protestors began their march from the Metropolitan Museum to the Indian Consulate here.
The 14-year-old Nepali boy was a student at the Manali-based Sherwood College, and was sick for several days. When he tried to seek medical attention his symptoms were ignored. He was then brought to a hospital in a near-comatose condition in the neighboring town of Haldwani, where he was diagnosed with septic shock, and the hospital recommended transfer of the patient to a larger facility. The sick boy was put in an ambulance and sent on a seven hours journey to Noida by road, but was pronounced dead on his arrival there Nov. 14.
His death was totally preventable if his symptoms were not ignored, organizers of the Dec. 6 march said in a press release. Prajapati was reportedly running high fever and was coughing blood for three days, during which time he did not receive appropriate medical care.
Prajapati’s mother, Neena Shrestha has filed an FIR against the school and several protests have also been held demanding the resignation of Principal Amandeep Singh Sandhu for a fair investigation into this matter. The Old Sherwoodians here have also started an online petition to the Consul General of India in New York to urge the appropriate authorities in India for a fair investigation and the immediate dismissal of the principal.