Girl dies after being beaten by teacher

Eight-year-old Akansha died on Wednesday evening after being boxed by her class teacher on the nape of the neck. Her fault? She had forgotten to bring her Hindi text book and had informed her teacher of the lapse.

According to police reports, Akansha, 8, was a student of class 3 in a government primary school in Aurraiya district. Her father is a small time farmer in Sarai Katy village under Achhalda police station in the same district.

“On Monday, Akansha went to school as usual. She was a keen student and never bunked school. Later, her friends told me that she has left her Hindi text book behind and when she herself informed the teacher, Amar Singh Gautam, he got angry and boxed her on the neck,” says Akansha’s father, Madan Lal Chauhan.

Akansha initially complained of mild pain at the nape but her parents did not take it seriously enough. They did not connect the pain with the incident in the school.

On Tuesday morning, Akansha woke up with severe pain in the neck and could not attend school. By late evening, she started suffering from blackouts and as her condition deteriorated, Madan Lal Chauhan began to panic.

He went to the police on Wednesday morning along with Akansha and informed the cops of the incident. The police sent Akansha for medical examination but by the time she was taken to the Aurraiya district hospital, the girl had died.

The police have detained the teacher Amar Singh Gautam and are waiting for the post mortem report to ascertain the actual cause of death.

The teacher, however, denies having hit Akansha and says, “I never hit the girl. Obviously, her parents have been wrongly informed by some of my rivals.”