Prank victim’s dad sues teachers, education DG and govt

(From left) Lawyers Hidayah Ayob and Soffian Azmir, and Azera Yazid and Wan Amey Shahril Wan Ab Rahman.

KUALA LUMPUR: The father of an 11-year-old girl who suffered serious injuries to her spine following a prank in school has filed a suit against the government and several others.

Wan Amey Shahril Wan Ab Rahman filed the suit through his lawyer, Soffian Azmir, at the Shah Alam High Court today, three months after the incident at a primary school in Shah Alam.

The statement of claim named three teachers, the school’s headmaster, the education director-general and the government as defendants.

It stated that Puteri Nur Atiqah was in “excruciating pain” after another student pulled her chair as she was about to sit.

The school then called Atiqah’s mother, Azera Yazid, to inform her about the incident.

Azera sought help from the school to call an ambulance for her daughter, but her request was rejected “without any valid reasons”, the statement of claim said.

Wan Amey Shahril and Azera then went to the school to bring their daughter to Avisena Women’s & Children’s Specialist Hospital in Shah Alam, where she was diagnosed with a “displaced fracture of coccyx caused by fall on the buttock”.

Atiqah, who has cerebral palsy, also suffered a “traumatic disorder” following the incident, the statement added.

Soffian told FMT he sent a letter of demand to the defendants on Nov 23, but they did not reply.

“The defendants (teachers and headmaster), among others, failed or refused to take reasonable and proper steps to get immediate treatment for the girl after the incident and refused to fulfil the mother’s request for them to immediately seek treatment for her daughter,” he alleged.

Wan Amey Shahril is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages.

The incident went viral, garnering more than two million views, after Azera posted about it on her TikTok account.

FMT has reached out to education minister Fadhlina Sidek and her ministry for comment.