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.
Unfortunate to see that Shaan Pritmani of Indian origin was harassed & bullied on camera at Coppell School, Dallas.
Instead of the accused getting punished, Shaan got suspended for 3 days.
Dear @IndianEmbassyUS, @DrSJaishankar: kindly take cognizance
— Shashank Shekhar Jha (@shashank_ssj) May 17, 2022
"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.
The incident has sparked anger and criticism on social media.
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.
