Uttar Pradesh: Dalit boy thrashed by teacher dies in Auraiya; protests erupt, police vehicles set on fire

A government school teacher in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya district has been suspended and booked after he allegedly beat a 15-year-old Dalit student, who later died due to internal injuries, police said.

The incident took place on September 13 when the class 10 student made a mistake in a class test.

The student died in the ambulance while being shifted to the Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences at Saifai in Etawah for treatment on Monday.

A case under IPC Sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), as well as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been registered against the accused teacher, who is absconding.

According to a report in the Indian Express, boy’s death triggered violent protests in Auraiya in the evening. Two police vehicles were set on fire and at least two private vehicles were damaged. According to the police, when the boy’s body was released to the family after the post-mortem, protesters laid it on the road outside his school and raised slogans. They also allegedly pelted stones at a police team that was in the area. Additional police forces were later sent to the spot.

Auraiya Circle Officer Mahendra Pratap Singh said a preliminary inquiry had found the boy was suffering from a kidney ailment before the incident, and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Lucknow. He said they needed to verify details of the illness and treatment with the hospital and the boy’s family, reported Express

Additional Director General, Kanpur Zone, Bhanu Bhaskar, said senior police and district officials had rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. He said the situation was under control. The boy’s family has taken his body to their village for the last rites, said police.

Accoridng to reports, the victim, Nikhit Kumar of Vaisholi village of Auraiya, was studying at the Adarsh Inter College on Phanfood Road under the Achhalda police station of the district.

His father Raju Dohre said, "On September 13, Social Science teacher Ashwani Singh held a class test. My son had blackened two boxes instead of one in the OMR seat and wrote 'samajak' instead of 'samajik' (social). This irked Ashwani Singh who grabbed my son by the hair and beat him mercilessly till he fainted and fell on the ground in the school itself."

"He gained consciousness while being taken to a private hospital but had difficulty in breathing. Doctors said he had suffered internal injuries. In between, he was treated at several hospitals. On Monday, he was being taken to Saifai but died in the ambulance while being shifted," he added.

Giving further details, Raju said, "When we came to know of the beating, we reached the school. We were threatened by the teacher. Later, when we protested, the college principal intervened and assured us that the teacher Ashwani would take care of the medical treatment. The child was admitted to a private hospital in Etawah and an expense of Rs 40,000 was borne by the teacher."

"During the course of our interactions, the teacher also misbehaved and abused us with casteist slurs. We then went to the police station and filed a report on September 24 against him. We later brought the child home. But seeing his condition, the police tried rushing him to Saifai for treatment but he died on the way."

The SP added, "Three teams have been formed for the arrest of the teacher, who is absconding."

Auraiya District Inspector of schools, Chandrashekhar Malviya said, "Orders have been given to the college manager to suspend the teacher."