Kolkata, July 12 (IANS) Six days after a 10-year-old student was made to lick her own urine in West Bengal's Visva-Bharati campus as a punishment for bedwetting, the university expressed regret over the incident and requested the girl's parents to send her back to the school.

The university unequivocally regrets the traumatic experience of the Patha Bhavan student at the hands of warden Uma Poddar. The Visva-Bharati, as an exceptional case, has allowed the student to be a day scholar and requests the parents to send her back to the school, read a statement signed by the registrar.

Assuring the non-recurrence of such an incident, the university has decided to overhaul the entire warden-matron system prevalent in its school hostels for years and seeks avenues on how to improve the situation, befitting the stature of a repute central university.

A three member team of the university visited the family's residence on Wednesday and tried to persuade the student to come back to the school. But the traumatised and shocked girl, who is finding it difficult coping with the situation, has declined to go back.

The girl's father reiterated that he will not try to convince her to go back to the school and said he was considering admitting the child to some other school.

The incident occurred Saturday evening when Poddar, while on an inspection, pulled up the girl for bedwetting. She allegedly then sprinkled salt on the urine and made the girl lick her urine as a punishment.

After the girl told her mother about the ordeal, her parents and several other people stormed the hostel premises and allegedly manhandled Poddar.

Following the incident, the university set up a four-member fact-finding committee, headed by former dean of students' welfare Aruna Mukherjee, to probe the matter.

Acting on the report, the university relieved Poddar of her duty as warden.

The incident has attracted severe criticism from all quarters and also reached the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has sought detailed reports from the university and the state government.