12-yr-old held for death of classmate at Delhi school

CCTV footage from the Vasant Vihar private school shows boy ‘pushing, strangulating’ victim, said police

The Delhi Police on Wednesday said it apprehended a 12-year-old student of a Vasant Vihar private school for allegedly “pushing and strangulating” a classmate, who died in hospital hours after the fight on Tuesday, triggering protests from his parents who accused the institution of negligence.

The deceased, Prince. (HT Photo)

Police said the boy, a Class 6 student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, was apprehended from his home in Munirka and booked under Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

CCTV footage between 8am and 8.30am ostensibly showed him pushing the victim, Prince, against the wall, hitting him and strangulating him, said police.

“We scanned multiple CCTV cameras and found that Prince got into a fight with a boy of his age near the classroom door... The two started fighting after their shoulders brushed. The boy strangled Prince. We found that a boy tried to intervene, but went away soon. The suspect then pushed Prince against the wall while hitting him and strangulating him,” a senior officer said. “We suspect the fight caused his death since he collapsed minutes later.”

The CCTV footage analysed showed the scuffle, but not Prince collapsing, the officer added.

The school staff rushed Prince to hospital at 9.30am. He was declared dead an hour later.

Police said they are still awaiting an autopsy report.

The school administration and the school’s principal did not respond to HT’s requests for comment on the matter.

Prince is survived by his father, Sagar, who works as a drain cleaner, his mother, Neetu, who is a homemaker, and his 14-year-old brother. He was enrolled at Chinmaya Vidyalaya under the economically weaker section quota.

His family, which belongs to the Scheduled Caste community, started protesting outside the school around 11am on Tuesday, accusing police and administration of negligence. They remained there with Prince’s body till the early hours of Wednesday, demanding arrests and action against school authorities.

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surendra Choudhary said that the minor was apprehended based on the investigation, which is still underway. “Based on the investigation, a 12-year-old minor was apprehended. However, the investigation is ongoing and the autopsy report is awaited”

On Tuesday, police said they were aware of the scuffle but were investigating if a prior medical condition may have triggered Prince’s death since he had no visible external injuries and he was “frothing at the mouth”.

The family, however, denied that Prince suffered from any earlier ailment. “He was a healthy boy. When we reached the hospital on Tuesday morning, the teacher present there kept making excuses and didn’t clearly say anything about what really happened in the classroom when the scuffle broke out…We have been kept in the dark,” his mother Neetu said.

At the Vasant Vihar police station, the family and activists staged protests against the police and school administration.

Sagar also alleged that police forced them to cremate the body to end the stir. “We wanted to cremate our son at the nearby cremation ground but the police came to our house. They hurried us and took us to the Green Park area where authorities had already set a security parameter. They used lathis to disperse the crowd. Even our relatives and friends were not allowed. Why did they hurry the cremation?” Sagar asked.

Choudhary did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment on the family’s allegations.

The family and other protesters were later forcefully removed from the police station for protesting. Protesters, including some college students, alleged they were manhandled and assaulted.

On Tuesday, the school’s principal, Archana Soni, confirmed that a scuffle broke out between the boys at 8.30am.