A 5-year-old UKG student returned home with wounds to his back after he was allegedly brutally caned by his school teacher in Hyderabad on Thursday. His crime, the teacher alleged, was that he had hit two of his classmates.
The incident occurred at Sacred Heart School at Tarnaka in Hyderabad and came to light after the student went home and showed the injuries to his parents, and narrated what happened.
"We don't know what happened but the teacher brutally thrashed him, and it has left him with severe injuries on his back," the boy's grandfather alleged.
According to reports, the student’s parents approached the Osmania University (OU) police station after noticing bloodstains on his school uniform.
The police swung into action and arrested the teacher, Kumudini.
While Kumudini claims the punishment was in return for the boy hitting two other students, the police said that she had over reacted to a small incident.
"A case has been registered under IPC Section 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act. The teacher has been sent to judicial custody," Inspector V Ashok Reddy from the Osmania University police station told TNM.
Childs rights NGO Balala Hakkula Sangham have demanded that the school be closed, and strict action be taken against the institute's management for thrashing the child.
However, this is not the first such incident from Hyderabad as corporal punishment is rampant in the two Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
In a similar incident in September this year, a Class 2 student was allegedly beaten mercilessly by the school principal for failing to read the words written on the board.
The incident took place at a school in Ramsinghpur in Hyderabad, and the seven-year-old student of Nehru Children’s High School in Karwan, suffered bruises on his back.
A case under section 341 (wrongful restraint) and 323 (inflicting injuries) including Juvenile Justice Act had been filed against the accused in the Tappachabutra police station at the time.