10-Year-Old Student Dies After Teacher Allegedly Thrashes, Pushes Him Off Balcony

A 10-year-old student in India died after he was allegedly brutally thrashed by his teacher, who then pushed him off the balcony of his school, the police said Tuesday.

The horrific assault happened in the southern state of Karnataka on Monday. The 45-year-old suspect, identified as Muthappa Yellapa, a teacher at a government-run school in the northern village of Hagli, fled after assaulting his student, Bharath Barker, and pushing him from the first-floor balcony of the school building, the police said, as reported by Hindustan Times.

According to the cops, Yellappa thrashed the boy with a shovel and assaulted the victim's mother, Geeta Barker, and another teacher, Nangangouda Patil, when they tried to stop him from hitting the boy.

Barker is also a teacher at the same school, reports said.

Meanwhile, officials said they have not yet determined the exact reason that triggered the incident. However, they believe that there were prior issues between the suspect and the victim's family.

"The reason is not clear now...prima facie it looks like some family issues among them," Shivprakash Devaraju, an investigating officer said, as reported by NDTV.

"Muthappa first thrashed Bharath and then threw him off the first floor, leading to his death. He also thrashed his mother, Geeta, with a shovel. Bharath was killed and Geeta was seriously injured. Another teacher, Shivanand Patil, also sustained minor injuries and has been admitted to a local hospital," the investigating officer told Hindustan Times.

In a similar incident in October, a 12-year-old boy in India died after he was beaten by a teacher for failing a class test. The incident happened at a private school in Noida, a city that's approximately 10 miles from the national capital of New Delhi. The 42-year-old teacher, identified as Shobharan, allegedly punished 10 students, including the deceased child after he failed a class test. Although the exact cause of the child's death is not known, the deceased child suffered injuries from canning. According to reports, the boy was already unwell when the teacher punished him. The police have registered a case against the suspect, who is on the run after the child's death.