Kin protest after teacher blackens 9-yr-old girl’s face for scoring low in test

The girl said that teacher had paraded her and some other students around the school with their faces painted black

High drama was witnessed in Hisar after family members of a nine-year-old Dalit student protested outside a police station, alleging that her schoolteacher had blackened her face using a black sketch pen for scoring low in a test.

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The incident allegedly took place on Friday after the teacher conducted an English class test. The girl, who is a student of Class 4, said, “I and some other students had not scored well in the class test so the teacher blackened our face and took us to different classes and asked other students to say ‘shame’.”

Her father, a labourer, stated that he was out of station when the incident took place. “When I returned, my daughter told me she doesn’t want to go to school. I tried to find out why but my daughter kept crying. Later, my younger daughter, who is also in the same school, told me about the incident following which we approached the police on Sunday evening and gave a written complaint.”

The girl’s father further said, “As the entire school campus is under closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera surveillance, we have asked the police to check the footage to gather proof and take strict action against the authorities.”

Sabzi Mandi station house officer (SHO) Jagjeet Singh confirmed the development and said, “We got a complaint from the girl’s parents against the teacher. We are investigating the matter and will start the process of registering the FIR. When we visited the school, we found the gates closed. We are investigating into the matter and will start the process of registering the FIR after probe.”

Meanwhile, members of the community, who were also outside the school when police reached the spot, started protesting and demanded that police team should raid the school to get the CCTV footage. They also shouted slogans against the Haryana government, the school administration and police.

School principal Ritu was did not answer her phone despite attempts.