A Class VI student is suspected to have jumped to death from the terrace of her school in Howrah on Thursday morning after a teacher allegedly slapped her and made her stand outside the class for cheating during an exam.

Brij Kishore Prasad, the accused teacher of St. Dominic Savio School, in the Golabari police station area, has been arrested following a complaint by the father of 12-year-old Aparna Mishra. He has been slapped with a case under IPC Section 306 (abetting suicide).

Prasad had allegedly scolded and slapped Aparna, the younger of two siblings, when he spotted her cheating during a chemistry test around 7.30am. He also took away her answer script and allegedly made the girl stand outside the classroom.

Around 15 minutes later, residents of the locality saw Aparna jump from the second-floor terrace of the school.

“It was about 7.45am when we saw the girl fall from the terrace. We immediately alerted the authorities but they did not react,” said Ajoy Singh, a local resident. Singh took the girl to a nursing home, where doctors declared her dead on arrival.

Dilip Kumar Dubey, the owner and principal of St. Dominic Savio School, an ICSE institution, refused to comment. “I cannot comment as I was not at the school when the incident occurred,” he said.

“The incident is unfortunate,” education minister Bratya Basu said. “The government will not allow teachers to behave in this way with their students,” he said.

The teacher should not have slapped the child even if she was cheating as corporal punishment is banned in school, said an official. According to the right to education act, a teacher found guilty of corporal punishment can be sacked.