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- Published: May 18, 2022 16:07
New Delhi: Shaan Pritmani, an Indian American student, was assaulted and “choked for over four minutes” by a white student at Coppell Middle School in Texas.
A video has been shot by classmates of the student being bullied and shared online. It shows one student approaching the Indian American boy who is sitting on a bench and demanding that he stand up. When he refuses to give up his seat, the American student gets angry and starts choking him. He presses the boy’s neck from behind with his elbow before choking him and pushing him against his seat.
“Disturbing footage of Shaan Pritmani, a middle school student, being assaulted and choked for over four minutes by a white student. The incident took place in a suburb of Dallas, Coppell Middle School. Shaan received three days of suspension while the assaulter received one day,” the North American Association of Indian Students said in a Tweet.
Here is partial footage of the incident.
The incident raises concerns about the safety and well being of Indians in schools in the United States as well as the lack of proper support from school administration for situations like these. pic.twitter.com/D7ToGesUlE
— North American Association of Indian Students (@NAAISORG) May 17, 2022
The incident has sparked anger and criticism on social media.
I wouldn’t want anybody to do that to my brother. Its life threatening.
And they punish the victim ? Seriously ? Why ? Coz he resisted assault ? He refused to have his neck broken ? Have some values man.
And this is the country preaching India on Human Rights !!!!!— Ivry Yoshi (@IvryYoshi) May 17, 2022
Shaan Pritmani gets choked out by a bully and passes out.
Shaan suspended for 3 days and the bully gets suspended for 1.
School officials didn’t write a formal complaint bc there’s been “too many complaints of bullying”.
Disgusting.
— Rohun ⛳️ (@RohunJauhar) May 16, 2022
ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING! @JoeBiden @POTUS @KamalaHarris @IndianEmbassyUS https://t.co/rv2nkMDpYZ
— SK⁷ (@bangtzfixon) May 18, 2022
The incident reportedly took place on May 11. The official Twitter handle of an advocate named Ravi Karkara wrote: “On Wednesday, May 11th, during lunch, Shaan Pritmani was physically attacked and choked by another student at his middle school.”
In the video, Shaan is seen sitting at the lunch table while the other student asks him to vacate the seat. “No, I’m not getting up. There is literally no one sitting here,” Shaan could be heard saying.