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What is death? Eight-year-old asks after school scuffle kills junior
“What is death?” This was what an eight-year old boy in Hyderabad asked the police when questioned why he allegedly killed a six-year-old schoolmate after a scuffle over repeated bullying.
“What is death?” This was what an eight-year old boy in Hyderabad asked the police when questioned why he allegedly killed a six-year-old schoolmate after a scuffle over repeated bullying.
Last Tuesday, the eight-year-old Class 3 student repeatedly teased his junior, the six-year-old Class 1 student, for a runny nose during the lunch break, police said
Enraged, the younger boy reportedly hurled abuses, triggering a brawl between the children. Both kids studied at the same school in the city.
During the fight, the older boy kicked the six-year-old in the stomach and private parts, sources said.
The Class 1 student collapsed during the scuffle and the school management rushed him to a local hospital, where he was given first aid treatment and sent home.
But later in the evening, he complained of severe pain in his private parts and was taken to Hospital, where doctors performed two surgeries to stop the internal bleeding. But he did not recover and succumbed to his injuries on Saturday evening. He was the son of a local cab driver.
But when police went to question the older boy about the murder, he asked them, “Mar gaya matlab kya hai?” (What does it mean he has died?) He claimed the younger boy had beaten him and he retaliated.
The school’s principal said the brawl might have taken place outside the premises as it was not recorded in any of the closed-circuit television cameras installed in the school.
Police have registered a case against the eight-year-old under Section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), but have not arrested him because he is a minor. He is likely to be produced before a juvenile court on Monday.
