KG girl brutally assaulted by Class III student at govt school in Panchkula in India
A six-year-old kindergarten girl was brutally assaulted at a government school in Panchkula, allegedly by an eight-year-old Class III student, who repeatedly hit her on the head with a brick, slammed her against a bench, dragged her by the tie and kicked her multiple times until she fell unconscious.
The incident, which was captured on CCTV, occurred between 3 pm and 4 pm on October 28 at Government Model Sanskriti Senior Secondary School, Sector 20. The girl was admitted to the PGIMER, Chandigarh, and is stated to be out of danger.
The Panchkula police have registered a case of negligence under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 125(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against the school principal, the class in-charge and a chowkidar on the complaint of the girl’s uncle. The FIR was registered on Saturday, three days after the incident. The Haryana Education Department has suspended two Class III teachers for “negligence”.
The complainant alleged that the boy lured the girl to a classroom on the first floor and assaulted her there. “She is out of danger but remains traumatised. She received four stitches on her head and suffered a nasal fracture,” he said.
Revealing the sequence of events, the uncle said the victim and the boy didn’t know each other, but their classes were made to sit together on October 28. “The boy got enraged after the girl called him ‘pagal’ (mental) because he was troubling her. When the class ended, he lied to her that her father had come and took her to an empty classroom on the first floor where she was assaulted,” he alleged.
The uncle claimed that CCTV footage showed the boy banging the girl’s head against a bench and striking her with a brick before attacking her with a steel dustbin and a flower pot. “He continued to kick her until she lost consciousness and then bolted the classroom door from outside. A guard later locked the room. She lay injured there for nearly two hours,” he said.
When the driver of the auto-rickshaw in which the girl travelled began looking for her, the boy reportedly told him that she was lying in a classroom and had been assaulted by some students.
“The boy took us to the spot. When the CCTV footage was checked, he admitted to attacking the girl,” the uncle said. The girl was rushed to a private hospital in Panchkula and later shifted to the Civil Hospital due to lack of funds. She was subsequently referred to PGIMER. “Crucial time was lost in the process,” he said. The Haryana Government, in a statement, described the girl as a special child, a claim her family has denied. The victim’s father works at a salon.
Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police Aditi Singh said, “The boy has been produced before the Juvenile Justice Board. His psychological evaluation is being done to ascertain what triggered the assault.”
Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights Chairperson Tripti Sheoran visited the girl at the PGIMER on October 30. Taking suo motu cognisance of the incident, she has issued a notice to the District Education Officer (DEO), Panchkula, seeking a detailed report and an account of the action taken in the matter.
The commission has sought an explanation regarding the circumstances under which the incident occurred, the supervision arrangements in place at the time, the deployment of teachers and other staff and the immediate response of the school authorities. It has also sought CCTV footage, duty rosters, attendance records, incident-related documents and details of the inquiry initiated by the Education Department.
The Haryana Government has constituted a five-member inquiry committee headed by the Panchkula Additional Deputy Commissioner and comprising the DEO, the District Child Protection Officer, a police officer nominated by the Commissioner of Police and a special educator or child psychologist. The committee has been directed to submit its report within seven days. The government also said it would bear the girl’s entire treatment cost and conduct a comprehensive safety audit of schools across the state.
Education Minister Mahipal Dhanda said strict action would be taken against those found negligent.
Haryana Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice Lalit Batra (retd) described it as an unfortunate incident. “We will take cognisance of the matter, review the case thoroughly and make recommendations on positive parenting, curriculum intervention and school counselling from the perspective of child psychology.”