Surat: 3-year-old branded with hot spoon in pre-school

SURAT; A female pre-school principal and two other female employees of the institution were booked at Umra police station on Sunday for allegedly branding a three-year-old boy with a hot spoon.
The child was branded in the right leg since he was throwing shoes at other students during the assembly. The principal asked one female employee to get a hot spoon and branded the child on the leg while another woman held him tight

Jyoti Rohit Agarwal, principal of Kids Colleague Group (KCG) English Medium Pre-School at Vesu, and two unidentified employees of the pre-school, were booked by the police on a complaint by boy’s mother Swati Mihir Kadhiwala. The accused were booked under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and section 75 (cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice Act.

The incident took place on Thursday at the pre-school. Kadhiwala came to know about the child’s burn injuries on leg when she went to pick him up at around 12.30pm. She took the child home and while giving him bath noticed that the injury was severe.

She then called the school officials over phone and they told her that the child was doing mischief. Therefore, he was branded with a spoon by the principal. The accused confessed to having branded the child and apologized to the parents.

The parents earlier planned to lodge a police complaint on Thursday and had even gone to Umra police station but after some discussion with pre-school authorities dropped the idea, police informed. However, the parents lodged a police complaint on Sunday.

“The parents alleged that their child was branded with a hot spoon by the principal to teach him a lesson and to warn other students. We will arrest the accused,” police said.