Ten-year-old Aslam Ansari was accused of breaking a plastic bucket at school. His enraged teachers allegedly administered him such a beating, it fractured his spine.

After battling for life for 17 days, Aslam died on Tuesday. The boy's injuries were grievous, said doctors at Bhopal's Hamidia hospital. He was unable to move and couldn't even turn his neck.

Birju Sonaria, one of the accused teachers of the government school at Betul's Pathakheda, has been arrested. The other, Vijay Ram Bhagat, is on the run.

"They had been booked for causing grievous hurt. Now, they will be booked for murder," said PS Mandloi, sub-divisional officer of police. The action against the teachers came recently. Earlier, a local-level inquiry had given them a clean chit.

"Teachers beat my son with such brutality that he died," said the child's mother, Baby. On November 16, the day Aslam was beaten up, the school had given Baby Rs. 200 for treatment.