MP government school teacher punishes Class 6 girl with 168 slaps for being absent, arrested

A government school teacher in Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua district has been arrested and remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a court here for allegedly directing some students to slap their classmate 168 times for not completing her homework.

Thandla tehsil's Judicial Magistrate First Class Jai Patidar on Monday turned down the bail plea of Manoj Verma, 35, additional district prosecution officer Ravi Prakash Rai said. Verma allegedly directed students to slap the girl, then studying in Class 6 at Jawahar Navodaya School in Thandla town, in January last year, he said.

According to the victim's father Shiv Pratap Singh, his daughter did not go to school from January 1 to 10, 2018 as she was unwell. On January 11, when the girl went to school without completing her homework, Verma told her classmates to slap her as a form of punishment following which 14 girls slapped her two times every day for six days.

Singh lodged a complaint with the school management which constituted a committee to probe the incident. The panel found the teacher guilty and suspended him, the prosecutor said. In the meantime, Singh also lodged a complaint with the police against the teacher under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

He told police that his daughter was distressed and fell ill following the incident and had to be admitted to a local hospital. She also refused to go to school. The teacher was arrested in connection with the offence on Monday and denied bail by the court the same day.