A seven-year-old Muslim boy in northern India’s Uttarakhand state ‘was brutally assaulted by his teachers’ inside a government school classroom after missing a day of school.
According to the complaint filed by his father, the boy returned to his government school in Jhabrera village, Haridwar district, after being absent for one day when two teachers allegedly launched a violent assault on him.
The father said the Hindu teachers subjected his son to severe beating, leaving him with multiple injuries, including a fractured elbow. He further alleged that the school’s principal pressed his shoe against the child’s face while another teacher continued to strike him.
Images released by the family show visible injury marks on the boy’s body, underscoring the extent of the assault. The child is currently receiving treatment in a local hospital.
Speaking to Maktoob, the boy’s father said: “The two teachers beat him for missing school and one of his elbows is fractured.”
Haridwar police registered a case on September 11 under India’s Juvenile Justice Act which criminalises cruelty against children.
“Further investigation and due legal proceedings are underway,” officials at Jhabrera police station confirmed in a statement.
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No arrests have been confirmed so far.
The incident has prompted complaints to national oversight bodies. Former advisor at the Delhi Minorities Commission, Mohammad Saddam Mujeeb, has filed formal petitions with the National Commission for Minorities, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Mujeeb has demanded accountability and strict action against the accused teachers and principal, saying the case reflects systemic impunity in dealing with violence against minority children in Indian schools.
Rights groups say the case highlights the increasing vulnerability of Muslim children in India’s classrooms, where incidents of abuse and discrimination have been widely reported.
In August 2023, a disturbing video from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, showed a young Muslim boy being slapped over and over again by his classmates while their Hindu teacher stood by instructing them to hit him harder. The clip went viral, shocking many across India and beyond. Yet despite the public outcry, there was little accountability.
For campaigners, that episode was not an exception but part of a painful pattern. They say Muslim children are increasingly growing up in an environment where their classrooms, places meant to nurture and protect them, have instead become spaces of humiliation and fear.
India Hate Lab, a U.S.-based research organisation that tracks hate speech and violence against minorities in India, has reported a sharp rise in attacks on Muslims in recent years, including cases involving children.
Its findings show that schools have increasingly become unsafe spaces where Muslim pupils are singled out, bullied, and even assaulted simply because of their identity.
