A 15 year old lost the battle against life two weeks after allegedly being physically assaulted by his teacher in Uttar Pradesh. After receiving medical care for two weeks at Etawah and Lucknow his condition worsened when he was taken to a hospital in Saifai where he took his last breath.

The boy’s father lodged a police complaint on September 24 which throws some light on the reason that might have led to the death of the minor. The 15 year old got one answer wrong in a social studies exam on 7 September and so the teacher “trashed him with a stick”, the complaint reveals. Additionally some reports stated that the boy was beaten with a “rod” and the teacher also “kicked him till he fell unconscious.”

Multiple charges have been labelled against the accused and these involve sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code. In addition to these, Sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have also been invoked.

After bashing the boy the teacher gave his father the assurance that he would pay for his medical treatment following which he also provided the father with Rs 40k but then he stopped taking the father’s calls. This was in the complaint lodged to the police. Upon confronting the teacher he was abused with casteist slurs, the father claimed. The teacher, belonging to the “upper” caste is on the run.

This incident triggered a massive protest. Public’s emotions ran high and their incendiary reactions were expressed in the form of violence as they torched two police vehicles and damaged some private ones as well. There was agitation held with the minor Dalit student’s deceased body outside the school where the alleged incident happened.