Boy, 12, killed by seniors for stealing biscuits, buried inside school by management

A 12-year-old student of a missionary school was battered to death by two of his seniors in Ranipokhri area of Uttarakhand’s Dehradun district after he allegedly stole a packet of biscuits from a shop, police have said.

The incident happened on March 10 and the school authorities buried the Class 7 student inside the school campus on March 11 after his father said he will not be able to take his son’s body home.

Police arrested the two Class 12 students and three school staff on Tuesday after the boy’s post-mortem examination revealed on March 23 that he died of internal injuries due to physical assault. The five accused were sent to jail on Wednesday.

According to police, the minor boy was a resident of Meerut and the senior students, both 19, are from Dehradun.

“The two accused students were booked for murder while the school staffers were booked for causing the disappearance of evidence,” station house officer of Ranipokhri PD Bhatt said.

The other three accused have been identified as school manager Praveen Messi, PTI teacher Ashok Solomon, hostel warden Ajay Kumar, police said.

“The two accused senior students had beaten him with bats and wickets on March 10 after the school management prohibited all students from going out of the school premises without permission,” Bhatt said.

“They gave the order after a nearby shopkeeper complained against the deceased boy of stealing a packet of biscuits from his shop, while he along with other students were going to visit a nearby church on the same day,” he said.

Bhatt said that the two senior students were angry with the boy after the order. After beating him for several hours, Bhatt said, the two senior students took him to the school building’s terrace, where they bathed him with cold water and then fed him.

“The two then left him in the study room where he was spotted by the school warden in the evening. While sitting there with other students, he started vomiting after which the warden along with other staffers took him to a nearbyhospital where he died during treatment,” Bhatt said.

The doctors there told them that the boy died of food poisoning after seeing the initial symptoms. It was then the school management informed his father, who lives in a leprosy shelter home in Meerut. The boy’s father reached Dehradun on March 11 where the hospital authorities also told him his son died of food poisoning citing the bouts of vomiting.

“Later, when the postmortem examination report came on March 23 stating internal injuries, the actual incident came to light followed by investigations and arrest of the accused,” claimed Bhatt.

Chairperson of the State Commission of Protection of Child Rights Usha Negi claimed she came to know about the burial of the boy after some locals informed her about the incident.

She then confronted the school management along with his parents following which they revealed the incident.

“As the father of the boy are not much educated, the school management got him to sign some papers after which they buried him in the school premises in haste. It was done clearly to hide the evidence for which the school management is solely responsible. Strict action should be taken against other staffers too apart from the three accused,” she said.

“The post-mortem examination report stated that he sustained serious injuries in his torso and head due to brutal beating. I want justice for my son,” the boy’s father said while speaking to the media.

When contacted, school principal MM Chandiwal refused to take responsibility for the incident.

“The incident happened in the hostel and not in school. I am not responsible for the hostel, the manager for the hostel is someone else,” Chandiwal said.