Three Class VI students at a tribal hostel in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district were allegedly subjected to a shocking punishment after senior students suspected them of stealing Rs 300.
Three Class VI students at a tribal hostel in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district were allegedly subjected to a shocking punishment after senior students suspected them of stealing Rs 300. The boys were allegedly beaten with belts and forced to hold burning embers on their palms in an attempt to identify the alleged thief.
The incident reportedly took place after midnight on Monday at the senior and junior boys’ hostels in Patha Sihora, officials said. The matter came to the attention of senior tribal welfare officials only on Friday, several days after the alleged incident.
According to Arun Shukla, assistant director of tribal welfare in Mandla, some junior hostel students had complained that money had been stolen. Following the complaint, a group of students, including some from the senior hostel, allegedly gathered to identify the suspected culprit.
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“They burnt a cow dung cake and, as per their belief, made some Class VI children hold it on their palms. They believed that only the one who had stolen the money would get burnt while the others would not,” Shukla told TOI.
Three Class VI students suffered burn injuries on their palms during the incident, he said. There was also a reported clash among students, which is now being examined as part of the inquiry.
The alleged incident was not reported to the tribal welfare department by hostel officials for several days. After the matter came to light on Friday, the department issued show-cause notices to the superintendents of both the senior and junior hostel sections and ordered a probe.
“We have issued show-cause notices to both superintendents of the senior and junior sections and constituted a probe committee into the incident. Further course of action will be decided on the basis of the findings,” Shukla said.
The inquiry committee is examining the students’ allegations, the circumstances surrounding their injuries and the reported clash among the hostel residents. Officials are also looking into the supervision arrangements at the hostel on the night of the incident and the alleged delay in informing senior authorities.
