Lucknow: The principal of a school, where a Grade 1 boy student was allegedly attacked with a sharp-edged weapon by a girl, was arrested on Thursday.
Officials said the girl attacked the boy as she wanted a holiday in the event of a schoolmate’s death.
Six-year-old Ritik was attacked in the toilet of Brightland School in Triveni Nagar locality by his senior, in a chilling reminder of the murder of class II student Pradyuman Thakur in a Gurgaon school last year.
The school’s principal Rachit Manas was arrested by the police in connection with the incident that took place on Tuesday.
“He has been arrested for negligence and hiding evidence. He did not inform the police about the incident,” Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said.
The SSP said the knife used by the 11-year-old girl, who was studying in Grade 7, has also been recovered and she will be produced before the juvenile justice board.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the trauma centre here and inquired about the well-being of the injured student. The boy was stated to be out of danger.
District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said that prima facie it appeared that someone might have told the girl that a holiday could be announced by the school authorities only if there was death of any student.
“For getting the school closed, the girl attacked Ritik,” police said.
The victim’s father Rajesh said on Wednesday that he was informed by the school that his son has been injured in a knife attack by a girl.
Dr Sandeep Tewari, who was treating the boy, said the victim had deep wounds on chest and stomach that “seemed to have been inflicted with a knifelike sharp object”.
an Air was lodged in connection with the incident on Wednesday.
Panic gripped the school a day after the incident took place when other parents came to know about the matter and charged the school administration with trying to hush up the case.
Taking note of the incident after the picture of the wounded boy went viral on social media and TV channels, District Inspector of Schools Mukesh Kumar Singh issued a notice to the school seeking clarification as to why legal action should not be initiated against it.
“The school has not provided information to our office regarding the incident after registration of the FIR. A clarification has been sought from the school,” Singh said.
