Swapnil Saurabh at his residence in Patna on Friday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Jan. 21: Different classrooms for different papers confused a 14-year-old schoolboy and his decision to take a test in a room other than the one earmarked for him infuriated the discipline-in-charge of his institution. Fallout: Ten slaps on the student’s face and an FIR against his mentor.

The Class VII student of Modern High School, Swapnil Saurabh, had taken prior permission from a schoolteacher before sitting in a different classroom for his test on Thursday. But the discipline-in-charge, Alok Kumar, was in no mood to excuse him.

Alok slapped Swapnil 10 times, hit on the student’s head and deducted 10 marks.

Bruised outside and hurt inside, Swapnil will go for X-ray and a CT scan to check if he suffered some internal injuries.

A day after the incident, Swapnil’s parents lodged an FIR against Alok at Patrakar Nagar police station today.

“The police will talk to both the parties. The matter is being looked into and suitable action will be taken,” said Dhirendra Pandey, the station house officer of Patrakar Nagar police station.

The school authorities have accepted that the boy was slapped, but added that he misbehaved with the teacher in front of other students, which prompted the teacher to take such an action.

Swapnil, who lives at Ashok Nagar Colony under Kankerbagh police station, told The Telegraph: “We are having our unit tests now. Yesterday we had Hindi and computer examinations. The tests were supposed to be held in different classrooms. I somehow got confused and couldn’t find the classroom where I was supposed to take the computer test. I told a teacher and she gave me the permission to sit in a class on the ground floor,” Swapnil said.

“Alok Kumar entered the classroom and asked me why I was not in the right classroom. I told him that I had got confused and had taken permission to sit there. But he did not listen and started slapping me. I was slapped over 10 times. He also hit me on my head with his ring. I began to feel dizzy after that,” Swapnil said.

His younger sister, Swarnika, who studies in the same class and was writing her exams, saw her brother getting beaten up and requested the teacher to stop.

“My younger sister tried to intervene, but she was threatened of a beating too. I could not write any more and kept sitting idle,” he said.

Swapnil’s mother, Asha Kiran, heard about the incident after she went to the school. “I saw marks on his (Swapnil’s) face and asked him what happened. He did not want to speak. As I pressurised him he told me everything. It was shocking and I went to the vice-principal immediately and enquired. She said the matter was being looked into and such a thing will never happen again. But I was dissatisfied. How can he beat him up like this? Schools should know corporal punishment is a crime. Moreover, Swapnil took permission to sit in the class,” Asha said.

Swapnil’s father, Dilip Kumar Gupta, who is also a teacher, said: “Such things should not happen. Even I am a teacher but I never beat up students. If he made a mistake, he could be scolded. Beating up a child this way can never be a solution,” he said.

The vice-principal of the school, Rakhi Singh, said the matter was being looked into. “Action will be taken against the teacher if he is found guilty. But we cannot confirm anything right now. Swapnil was slapped only once. Allegations being made by the boy and his parents are wrong. The boy had not taken permission from anyone and was sitting with his friends in the classroom to take the test. When Alok asked him why wasn’t he sitting according to his serial number, he misbehaved. The teacher felt insulted and slapped him,” she said.

HIT HARD

Victim

■ Fourteen-year-old Swapnil Saurabh, a Class VII student of Delhi Modern High School

Accused

■ Alok Kumar, the discipline in-charge of the school

One fault

■ Taking test in a classroom other than the one he was supposed to

Triple punishments

■ More than 10 slaps

■ Hit on head

■ 10 marks deducted

Fallout

■ Swapnil’s father has lodged an FIR against the discipline in-charge at Patrakar Nagar police station