Anam Altaf (name changed) is only 9. But on a hot Tuesday afternoon, she came home from school – sick, dizzy, and unable to open her eyes. Her father, Mohammad Altaf, says she told him something no parent wants to hear.
“She said they beat her for not bringing a notebook,” he said.
Anam studies in Class 3 at Presentation Convent Higher Secondary School, one of the most reputed girls’ schools in Srinagar.
On June 10, according to her father, she returned from school in a condition that scared the whole family.
“She was vomiting, barely conscious,” Altaf told Kashmir Observer. “Her eyes weren’t opening. She looked like she had been through hell.”
Altaf says the school didn’t inform him right away. When they finally called, it was already late afternoon.
“What hurts me the most,” he said, “isn’t just that she may have been beaten. It’s that they didn’t treat her or even rush her to a hospital.”
The distraught father rushed his daughter to Srinagar’s Children’s Hospital, then to JVC, and finally to SMHS Hospital, where doctors discharged her around 3 a.m.
Her condition has since improved. But the questions keep piling up.
Why did the school wait to call him? Why didn’t they, he asks, take her to a doctor? And why, he wonders, is the school refusing to release CCTV footage of the day?
Presentation Convent, meanwhile, has pushed back.
In a detailed statement, the school said Anam was not assaulted but had complained of a headache. They said she had a history of migraines, and that her father was consulted before staff gave her medication.
“When the father arrived, he created a scene,” the school’s note said. “He disrupted efforts to take the child to the hospital and diverted to Press Colony instead, clearly indicating an intent to escalate the matter beyond medical concern.”
The school claimed it followed proper protocol and even sent a staff vehicle to follow the father. It also warned against “misinformation” on social media.
But Altaf says no one from the school came to the hospital. “Not even one visit,” he said. “Not a call to check on her. They washed their hands off it like nothing happened.”
Anam, he added, has no past medical issues. “She’s a healthy kid. She never had migraines. They’re just saying that to cover up.”
The incident has triggered public outcry across Kashmir, coming just weeks after another tragic case—the suicide of 14-year-old Numan Sofi, a student at Kashmir Harvard School.
That case raised difficult questions about student well-being and mental health in private schools. This one has reopened the same wounds.
“This is not just about my child,” Altaf said. “If it happened to my daughter today, it could be someone else’s tomorrow. We need to know our children are safe in school.”
The Education Department has taken note. On Wednesday, Education Minister Sakina Itoo told Kashmir Observer that the government is launching an investigation.
“We have asked the Director of School Education to probe the matter thoroughly,” she said. “Once the report comes in, we’ll take strict action if necessary.”
But for the little girl and her family, the damage is already done. Her father says she’s scared to return to school.
For now, she stays home, recovering, while her parents try to make sense of what happened, and what to do next.
“I trusted that school,” Altaf said. “Now I don’t know if I ever can again.”
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