Press Release

We are pleased and proud to inform you that under the aegis of the Kochhar Group, our law firm, Kochhar & Co. has recently established the Kochhar Shanno Foundation to promote the cause of child welfare with emphasis on education for children of the underprivileged and eradication of the evil of corporal punishment. The Foundation was formally inaugurated last month by His Excellency, Dr. A.R. Kidwai, the Hon’ble Governor of the State of Haryana.

Shanno was the tragic and unfortunate victim of a shocking case of corporal punishment inflicted upon an innocent 11-year old girl in a Government school in Delhi. She was brutally punished by her English teacher Manju Rathee for failing to spell an English word correctly. The punishment involved making her stand in a cock position in the blazing sun with one brick placed on her shoulders and another on her back. Unable to withstand this brutal physical assault, Shanno fell into a state of unconsciousness and was rushed to a hospital and breathed her last two days later.

The Kochhar Shanno Foundation has resolved to launch a feisty and tireless nationwide crusade to stamp out the menace of corporal punishment inflicted upon children of the poor in Government-run and sponsored schools. Teachers in Government schools often disregard the fact that corporal punishment is illegal and the same is proscribed by law including the directives of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. Moreover, it is also a breach of the provisions of the UN Convention of Right of Child to which India acceded in the year 1992. Sadly, 17 years hence, beating innocent children in the guise of learning and discipline in Government schools continues to remain the law rather than the exception. The Kochhar Shanno Foundation is hopeful that divine justice will prevail and the conviction, efforts and ideology of the Foundation will meet the desired results. We look forward to your patronage and support to this noble cause which is crying out for attention since a long time.