Teacher held for roughing up minor student in Bengal

Kolkata, July 25 (IANS) A school teacher in West Bengal's Howrah district was detained Friday for allegedly thrashing a class 8 student caught talking during class, even as several incidents of corporal punishment were reported from the state.

The Thursday incident at an English medium school in Howrah left the minor with several bruises and cuts after the accused teacher Jaiprakash Singh allegedly beat him up.

"Singh was detained and being interrogated after the minor's parents filed a complaint saying he assaulted their son resulting in several cuts and bruises," said an officer of Golabari police station under which the incident happened.

Still to come to terms with the assault, the 14-year-old has refused to go to school again.

Even as the shock over a private tutor caught on video brutally thrashing a three-and-a-half-year-old child in Kolkata continues, the spate of incidents of corporal punishment have left the people stunned.

In North 24 Parganas district's Shyamnagar, a class 11 student received three stitches in his head when a teacher threw a duster at him for talking in the class Thursday. The teacher has been detained by police.

In Balagarh of Hooghly district, a class 4 student had to bear the brunt of his teacher for dirtying the school wall.

According to the parents, who have filed a police complaint, the teacher pounced on the boy beating him mercilessly on seeing him dirtying the school wall with his soiled boots.

Back in the city, a class 4 student was allegedly roughed up by the mother of a classmate.

The nine-year-old was allegedly punched and slapped and a hair pin pierced into his body Thursday after he had reported about the misbehavior of a fellow student, a day earlier.

"She punched, slapped and continued to hit me mercilessly even as I pleaded for mercy. She even pierced her hairpin on my head," said the boy whose parents subsequently filed a police complaint.

School authorities including the principal later paid a visit to the boy at his home.

"We have received a complaint and investigation is on. We have initiated a case under several non-bailable offences," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Murlidhar Sharma.