KUANTAN: The case of a Form Two student in Cherating near here who was allegedly bullied by his classmate which went viral on social media last week has been settled.
The school had arranged for a reconciliation between the victim and suspect’s family at the school premises on Aug 13 and both parties have decided not to prolong the issue.
A spokesman from the State Education department said the victim’s father has also agreed to retract his police report but the police will monitor the school and its students to ensure such incidents will not occur again.
Speaking on the incident, he said investigations revealed that the 14-year-old suspect had met the victim in one of the classroom’s after school hours on July 3 and demanded for cash.
“Since the victim did not give him any money, he was harassed and another student had recorded the entire incident on his handphone. The other student had later shared the recording with a friend from another school who uploaded the video clip on social media on Aug 13.
“When a student from the school reported about the bullying incident to the discipline teacher on Aug 7, no one knew about the existence of the video clip. The school immediately called both students (suspect and victim) for investigations before arranging for a reconciliation and both parents had agreed to meet on Aug 13,” he said.
However, he said just hours before the meeting on Aug 13, the victim’s father was angered when he saw the video clip which was circulating on social media and decided to lodge a police report.
The spokesman said later during the reconciliation session, both parties - suspect and victim’s families - had listened to the explanation and agreed to put the matter to rest.
Meanwhile, State Education Department director, Dr Tajuddin Mohd Yunus who confirmed that the matter has been resolved said the school has been told to arrange counseling sessions for the victim and the suspect, and monitor the students at school.
In the 1 minute, 38-second video clip, the victim was seen being punched and beaten with a chair and broomstick in a
classroom.
Police had last week questioned two of the suspect’s classmates on the incident but the suspect did not show up at school.