Hyderabad: Principal held after 3-yr-old crushed to death in school lift

Three people including the principal and a teacher were arrested after a three-year-old girl was crushed to death in the lift of a private school in Hyderabad’s Dilsukhnagar on Tuesday, sparking protests by outraged family members and residents.

Three people including the principal and a teacher were arrested after a three-year-old girl was crushed to death in the lift of a private school in Hyderabad’s Dilsukhnagar on Tuesday, sparking protests by outraged family members and residents.

Protesters outside the school where the three-year-old girl died. (ANI Photo)

A case was registered against the school management for causing death by negligence, the police said. The girl was identified as Syeda Xainab Fatima, a nursery student at the school.

The incident occurred around 9.15am when a school teacher and a group of students were going from ground floor to the third floor of the school in an elevator. “It is a grill-gate lift and the girl got stuck in the lift when it was moving. We are probing the lapses on part of the school management and whether the school has necessary permissions,” said a police official investigating the case.

The Sri Chaitanya School was closed down after the incident and the district education officer was summoned by the police to assist the investigations.

Tension prevailed at the school as the victim’s family members and residents of the area staged a protest, demanding action against the school management for their negligence.

A protester was quoted by NDTV as saying: “The child’s father is in Dubai, working hard to earn money for her education. The school abandoned the child... It is the school’s responsibility to take care of our children.”