UP: Dalit school student dies after thrashing by teacher; search on to nab accused

AURAIYA: A 15-year-old Dalit boy who was thrashed by his schoolteacher has succumbed to his injuries, following which a search operation has been launched to nab the accused, police said on Tuesday. Nikit Kumar, a class 10 student at a local inter-college on Phaphond Road in Achalda police station area, was allegedly thrashed by his social sciences teacher Ashwini Singh on September 7 for making mistakes in a test. He was admitted to a hospital where he died on Monday, the police said.

Bidhuna Circle Officer Mahendra Pratap Singh said action had been initiated against the accused teacher under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and related sections, including SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. District Inspector of Schools Chandrashekhar Malviya said the school manager had been ordered to suspend the accused teacher. Superintendent of Police (SP) Charu Nigam said after registering a case, teams were set up to arrest the absconding teacher.

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The deceased's father Raju Dohra alleged that the teacher hit his son with sticks and kicked him so badly that he fainted in school. When the family members rushed to the school, they were threatened at first. However, when the boy's condition worsened, the teacher took him to Etawah from where he was referred to Saifai PGI (Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science), Dohra added. The police said the school was closed as soon as the report of the student's death was received.

Shortly after, Bhim Army activists visited the boy's home and staged a protest. When the student's body was brought in an ambulance, local residents staged a protest in front of the school. They also set a police vehicle on fire and damaged the vehicle of the district magistrate, who had reached the spot to pacify the protestors, the police said, adding that additional forces had to be called in to control the demonstrators. The situation was brought under control after the SP reached the spot.

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District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Srivastava met the parents of the victim and assured action. Inspector General of Police Prashant Kumar also reached the spot and took stock of the situation, the police said, adding that action would be initiated against those who created the ruckus.

The principal of the inter-college said he had been on leave since September 5 and came on Tuesday after he was informed about the incident. Circle Officer Singh told PTI that the family had agreed to cremate the student after talking to senior district officers and were taking the body for his last rites.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi demanded action on the incident. "The incident of death after beating a Dalit student in Auraiya (UP) is condemnable. For 19 days, the student kept fighting the battle between life and death, but the police could not catch the guilty person. This is not the first such incident. After all, instead of taking immediate action, the law and order of the government will work as a laxity?," she said in a tweet in Hindi.

औरैया (उप्र) में एक दलित छात्र की पिटाई के बाद मृत्यु की घटना निंदनीय है। 19 दिन तक छात्र जिंदगी व मौत के बीच जंग लड़ता रहा, लेकिन पुलिस दोषी व्यक्ति को पकड़ न सकी। ये इस तरह की पहली घटना नहीं है। आखिर कब तक फौरी कार्रवाई करने की बजाय सरकार की कानून व्यवस्था लचर बनकर काम करेगी?

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) September 27, 2022

(with inputs from PTI)