Cops book principal for slapping, punching 15-year-old male student

The police said that after the party, the accused took the boy to his office and allegedly slapped him nearly 25 times on his cheek and neck. The boy added that the principal had also punched him in the stomach

Mumbai: The principal of a school in Ghatkopar was booked on Wednesday for allegedly slapping and punching a 15-year-old boy on November 13.

Arrested computer hacker and cyber criminal with handcuffs, close up of hands (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to the Vakola police, the boy, a resident of Kurla (West) is a Class 10 student at a convent school in Santacruz (East). To celebrate Children’s day, the school had organised a party, after which the principal asked the boy to call his parents to meet him.

In his complaint, the boy told the police that the principal had accused him of behaving badly and adding that his parents would also not come to meet the principal when called. When the boy told the accused that his mother could not find an autorickshaw to come to the school, he insisted that she walk to the school and detained the boy until his parents arrived.

The police said that after the party, the accused took the boy to his office and allegedly slapped him nearly 25 times on his cheek and neck. The boy added that the principal had also punched him in the stomach. When the boy’s father got to the school the accused threatened them saying that they could file a complaint if they wanted but that he was a lawyer and he would fight the case. The principal then asked the boy to return with his parents on November 17.

When the boy’s mother and cousin came to see the principal, he apologised to the family, claiming that he had hit the boy only out of momentary anger. However, the family insisted on seeing CCTV footage of the incident and saw that the accused had clearly assaulted the boy.

Based on the CCTV footage, the boy approached the police who then registered a case against the principal under sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act.

“We have registered the FIR and are also scanning through the CCTV footage to verify the complaint,” said a police officer from Vakola police station.