Varanasi teacher brands hot knife on 5-year-old’s private parts for urinating in pants, booked

A nursery teacher at a private school in Varanasi allegedly branded a five-year-old boy on his private parts with a heated knife after he urinated in his pants when he was denied permission to use the restroom, police said on Monday. An FIR was registered against the teacher, the principal and the management of the school after the child's father, Kesari Jaiswal, a lawyer, filed a complaint at the Lalpur-Pandeypur police station. Jaiswal alleged that his son, a nursery student at Sareen Soni Play School in Pandeypur, returned home on July 24 complaining of pain in his private parts. On examination, the child's mother found a blister, he said. The father alleged that teacher, Preeti Kushwaha, had inflicted the injury after he urinated in his trousers when he was allegedly denied permission to use the washroom.

According to the complaint, the teacher allegedly took the child to another room, heated a knife on a gas stove and used it to burn his private parts. Jaiswal said he approached the school principal and management with his wife and son on July 25 to lodge a complaint, but he alleged that no action was taken, following which he approached the police. Police said an FIR has been registered against Kushwaha, the school management and the principal under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 115(2) (Voluntarily causing hurt), 118(1) (Voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation).

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Reacting to the incident, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav termed it "extremely serious" in a post on X, saying "its painful and horrifying impact could remain with the child for life". He said teachers should treat children with compassion and humanity and demanded immediate appropriate action.