A Class 8 student of a government school allegedly attacked his class teacher with an iron rod in south Delhi's Saket area on Saturday morning. The teacher had scolded him for not carrying books and missing school.
Police say they have registered a case and the accused is absconding. The teacher is undergoing treatment at the AIIMS trauma centre.
According to the police, they received a PCR call at 9.35 am about the incident. "Following which, a police team was sent to Vir Chander Singh Garhwal Government Boys Senior Secondary School in J Block of Saket. During an initial probe, it came to light that a student, who had come to school after a gap of few days, was scolded by his class teacher Shyam Sunder Choudhary. When Choudhary checked the student's school bag, he found one notebook and a one feet-and-a-half long steel rod in it. Choudhary scolded him for bringing a rod to school and also informed the student's uncle about the incident," said Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south).
The students told the police that the teacher had kept the rod on his table and gotten busy with his work when the accused picked up the rod from the table and kept it back in his bag.
"When the teacher got angry and tried to take away the child's bag, he took out the rod and hit the teacher on his face and head, causing injuries above his right eye, ear and head. After attacking the teacher, the student fled away by scaling the school's boundary wall. The school administration took Choudhary to AIIMS trauma centre where he is under treatment at present," Kumar added.
Police said that they have registered a case under Section 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) while teams have been formed to nab him. "We have contacted the child's family as well," said a senior police officer.
The school administration claims that the child had come prepared to attack the teacher. "It was the first period when the child was summoned by Choudhary for not attending the mega PTM," the administration said.
"The boy had been missing school for close to 15 days. Choudhary had asked him to get his bag to check whether he had bought all the books but he had denied. It was when the teacher asked his classmates to get his bag that he had started misbehaving. The hit Choudhary at least 4 to 5 times. When the students raised alarm and tried to catch him, he threatened to hit them as well and fled from the class. I was teaching in a nearby class when I heard the commotion and ran to their classroom," said Ashok Kumar Yadav, an English teacher at the school.
Yadav added that the school was visited by senior officials from the Directorate of Education who took a stock of the incident and said that a report will be sent to them by Monday.