A class 5 student in a Delhi school was allegedly hit with a pair of scissors by her teacher who then chopped her hair and flung her off the building's first floor, fracturing her facial bone, officials said on Friday.
According to the police, the teacher locked herself inside a classroom with students and "violently" threw water bottles before she picked up the girl and tossed her from the balcony.
According to doctors, the girl, aged around 11, has sustained fracture in a facial bone.
The police said the accused teacher, identified as Geeta Rani Deshwal (26), has been arrested.
The incident took place at around 11 am at the Delhi Nagar Nigam Balika Vidyalaya. Papers, books and bags lay scattered in the classroom as students ran out of the classroom in panic, as she allegedly even threatened to harm some of them, the police said.
The police said Deshwal was arrested, adding that the motive behind the incident is not clear yet.
The girl's father said that his daughter was bleeding after she was thrown by the teacher, and she sustained injuries to her jaw and legs.
"We received information from the school about the assault. The teacher picked up my daughter and threw her from the balcony. She also cut my daughter's hair," he told PTI.
He alleged that teacher allegedly beats up other children and even uses belts to harass students. However, there was no confirmation from the police to these allegations.
A senior doctor at the Hindu Rao Hospital said the girl, aged around 11, has suffered "small injuries in the scalp region".
"We conducted a CT scan of her skull and brain which has come normal, and the ultrasound too has come normal. But, there is swelling on her face, so we repeated the CT, and found that she has sustained a fracture in a facial bone. Hence, the patient has been referred to the maxillofacial department of the Safdarjung Hospital," he told PTI.
The girl, otherwise, is stable and further treatment is on, he added.
The tests and scan reports of the girl are "normal, and the child is safe, stable and responding well", according to the municipal corporation. Deshwal was suspended by the civic body.
Narrating the sequence of incident, DCP (Central Delhi) Shweta Chauhan said that Deshwal came to the class first, then locked the door from inside and started threatening students.
"She also broke bottles. She then caught hold of a girl and hit her head with a pair of small scissors. She then...threw her off the balcony," Chauhan said.
When asked if the teacher harmed any other student, the officer said that no such information or complaint has come to the fore so far.
"One more teacher who tried to stop the accused from doing so was pushed by the accused but it is not confirmed if she sustained injuries when she went to intervene," the DCP said.
The police, however, didn't give details as to how the door of the classroom, which was locked from inside, was opened.
Asked whether the teacher is mentally-ill, Chauhan told reporters that doctors can confirm this.
According to the police, the accused suffered a miscarriage in October 2021 when she was five-month pregnant. Her husband lives in a Haryana village and is a truck driver.
Soon after the incident, a huge crowd gathered at the school in central Delhi's Model Basti area. The police reached the spot and brought the situation under control.
"We don't know what led to the incident. Why did this teacher do this to my daughter? She even harmed her classmates. I never received any complaint against my daughter. What happened today was very shocking and I fear sending my child to school again," the victim's father told PTI over phone.
Parents of many students gathered outside the school and lodged a protest.
The victim's mother burst into tears and was inconsolable when she got to know that her child had been thrown off the first floor of the school building.
Another woman who consoled the victim's mother said, "This teacher should be punished severely for her act. Just because we come from a poor background does not mean our children can be harmed."
Some of the classmates of the victim also alleged that the teacher threatened to harm them.
A parent of another student of class 5 in the same school alleged that the "head master did not even speak" to the parents about the incident and questioned the education system of MCD schools.
He also accused this teacher of intending to harm other students of the class as well, and alleged that "none of the higher authorities have come to school for inspection till date".
"Is this the way the school is educating children, by beating and harming them with scissors? Do we send our children to school for this? Who will take responsibility for this," he asked.
Earlier in the day, a team of Delhi Commission For Protection of Child Rights visited the girl in Hindu Rao Hospital. Later, the child rights body directed the local SHO to inquire into the matter under serious violation and submit an action taken report by December 20.
Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal demanded strict punishment for the accused teacher.
