A six-year-old boy has died after reportedly being struck by his teacher at a private school in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, with his father saying the child had insisted on going to class that morning before collapsing on campus.
The boy, named locally as Pranay Tej, had pressed to attend school on Thursday despite his family's initial hesitation, according to his father.
The incident occurred at Little Garden School in the One Town area, where security camera footage captured a teacher hitting the child moments before he fell unconscious. He was rushed to King George Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Pranay's father said his son had shown no signs of illness before leaving home that day. 'In the morning around 8am, my son woke up and said he wanted to go to school. He insisted on going to school,' he told reporters.
According to the father, the family had briefly considered keeping him home, but given his upcoming exams, they decided to let him go, and the boy left as usual.
By early afternoon, the family received word that something had happened, though not from the school itself.
'No one from the school called me,' the father said. 'The local cooks who work near my brother-in-law's place called and informed me.'
A doctor later told the family the child had died roughly half an hour before reaching hospital, he added.
The family said they later reviewed the school's CCTV footage, which they said showed the teacher striking the boy shortly before he collapsed.
'She hit him with a stick, and due to shock and fear, he collapsed right there,' the father alleged. It was reported separately that footage it had accessed showed the teacher hitting the child, who then fell into her lap. The father rejected any suggestion his son had been unwell beforehand, saying he had 'no issues at all' and had woken up fine that morning.
Police Inspector Pudi Vara Prasad told the Press Trust of India that a case had been registered following a written complaint from the boy's father.
'We have registered a case under Section 194 of the BNSS and launched an investigation,' he said, adding that the body was returned to the family once inquest and post-mortem procedures were completed.
'Once all relevant reports are received, we will determine the exact cause of death,' Prasad said. Revenue Divisional Officer Dilip Chakravarthy, who attended the hospital after being alerted, said officials were gathering full details of the incident.
Nara Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh's education and IT minister, said on Facebook on Thursday that legal action would follow against those responsible, including the school's management.
Writing on X on Friday, he added, 'As a father, I can't get over what happened to little Pranay Tej. Corporal punishment has no place in our schools,' saying he had ordered a full investigation.
