12-Year-Old Dies After Allegedly Being Beaten Up By Private Tutor For Missing Classes

A minor boy in India who was allegedly beaten up by a private tutor after the boy missed classes succumbed to his injuries, police said Thursday.

The 12-year-old boy from Mathura, a village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was reportedly beaten with a cane by his private tuition teacher on Aug. 29. The boy who suffered serious injuries in the assault was hospitalized since then and succumbed to death Wednesday, news outlet Outlook India reported.

After the child's death, the police booked the child's private tutor, identified as Keshav Gautam, from the same village, on charges of murder. Gautam reportedly assaulted the child for skipping classes after he fell unwell, police said.

"Beaten on August 29, the child died from his injuries at the district hospital on Wednesday," Narendra Yadav, an investigating officer, told news outlet NDTV.

The child's father, identified by his first name Sanjai, said the family reportedly delayed filing a complaint as the village head assured them that he will compensate for the medical expenses of the child.

After the incident, the child was first rushed to a private hospital and was later referred to a specialty hospital for treatment but he could not be saved.

In many parts of India, corporal punishment is still an acceptable method of disciplining a child as there are not many effective laws preventing abuse. On many occasions, teachers and parents try to justify corporal punishment by saying it will help reform the child and forbid recurrence of bad behavior without understanding the long-term physical and emotional impact of the abuse.

In March, a primary school teacher in China was arrested for allegedly pulling the hair of a 9-year-old boy as a punishment for talking in class. The suspect, identified by his surname Chang, was arrested for assaulting the boy whose scalp and skull reportedly got separated in the violent attack. The boy had to undergo seven separate surgical procedures to drain more than a liter of blood that had accumulated in his brain after the incident. The incident left the child under serious trauma and he had to spend three weeks at the hospital for treatment.