7-year-old boy hung upside down: Panipat school principal, cab driver arrested

The principal of a private Panipat school and a cab driver have been arrested for allegedly beating up a child after hanging him upside down in school.

The Education department has swung into action, sent a notice to the school and shut it down.

The shocking incident came to light in Panipat, where the seven-year-old boy was allegedly beaten up and hung upside down from a window by the cab driver in the school on the Jatal road.

Though the incident took place in August, the child’s parents came to know about it on Saturday when a video of the assault went viral on social media. They immediately approached the school principal and filed a complaint with the Model Town police.

The police registered a case against the cab driver, identified as Ajay, and began an investigation. The child's mother said her son was admitted to Class II in Srijan Public School at Virat Nagar this year. She said the incident took place on August 13.

The family was shocked to see the video, which showed their son’s legs tied with a rope and he was hung from a window in his school uniform. Another video showed the school principal slapping two other children in front of their classmates.

When they confronted the principal, Reena, she claimed she was unaware of the videos. The victim told his mother that “Ajay uncle” had hung him from the window, slapped him, recorded the video and uploaded it on social media.

The mother said when she and the principal went to Ajay's house on Refinery road, he sent some boys to confront them. On Sunday, the police visited the school with the victim, his parents and the principal for an inspection of the spot.

Reena said Ajay had behaved inappropriately with children and some parents had complained about his conduct. She claimed she too had observed this and fired him on August 30.

Regarding the slapping seen in the video, the principal clarified that two boys had misbehaved with a girl at the school and their parents were aware of the matter.

SP Bhupender Singh said a case had been registered against the driver under various sections of the BNS at Model Town police station. He said he had directed the officers to investigate the matter thoroughly.