A teacher of a private school here was taken into custody after he allegedly beat up a nine-year-old boy for not completing his assignment, police said Wednesday.

A Shankar, the teacher, had given an assignment to the third standard student on Monday and after finding that he had not done it, he allegedly hit the boy with a wooden scale, Ibrahimpatnam police station sub-inspector Mohan said.

The boy was treated at a hospital for a minor injury and discharged, police said. Shankar was taken into custody after the family lodged a complaint, they added.