Probe Ordered As 12-Year-Old Boy Dies After Alleged Assault By School Seniors In North Delhi

A probe has been ordered into the matter to ascertain the cause of death and take legal action accordingly.

A 12-year-old boy died nine days after he was allegedly thrashed by his seniors in Delhi school.

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A 12-year-old boy studying in sixth grade in a government school in North Delhi's Shastri Nagar died on January 20, nine days after being allegedly thrashed by his school seniors.

According to the Delhi Police, a postmortem was carried out to determine the cause of his death, based on the findings of which legal action will be taken. The report is, however, awaited.

A senior police official aware of the matter said that the autopsy was conducted by a team of three doctors that was formed on the Delhi government's request, the Hindustan Times (HT) reported.

The officer also said that the deceased boy's family had verbally complained of the incident and alleged that some of the senior students in their son's school had assaulted him. They also claimed that a private doctor exercised negligence while providing medical treatment to their son, which contributed to his death.

According to the report, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Manoj Kumar Meena said that the police has asked them to lodge a written complaint.

The Delhi government issued a statement on Tuesday in which it said that a committee has been ordered to inquire into the matter and the school's head has been asked to submit a formal report. It also stated that the government had directed the committee to file its report within two days, HT reported.

"Delhi government's heart goes out to the bereaved family who lost their child in such a tragic incident. The alleged incident took place outside of the school's premises. The Delhi government is actively taking essential measures, including counselling students, to foster a positive state of mind and prevent any potential unforseen incidents," HT quoted the Delhi government's statement.

However, the boy's father, Rahul Sharma, claimed that his son told him that he was assaulted on January 11 by students of classes 9 and 10 when he was coming out of the washroom.  He took his son to a government hospital in northwest Delhi, where he received medical attention and was referred to the orthopaedic department, which was closed at the time, HT reported.

Sharma said that he then took his son to a private doctor's clinic in Rohini Sector 7. The doctor prescribed him some medicines, but the boy started skipping meals which deteriorated his condition.

As per the report, Sharma alleged that he took his son to the government hospital again on January 20, where he died during treatment.

The boy's father also claimed that he went to school to inquire about the assault, where two students verified that his son was assaulted by senior students whose faces they had not seen, reported HT.

"We didn't know why he was attacked. He wanted to join the armed forces. All of his dreams shattered," NDTV quoted Sharma.