Holiday whiff in school stab

Piyush Srivastava, TT,  Jan 18, 2018, Lucknow: A Class VII girl was taken into custody on Thursday on the charge of stabbing and injuring a Class I boy in a toilet at her Lucknow school because she wanted a day's holiday.

The incident at Brightland School, which closes for a day if any pupil dies, mirrors the murder of Class II boy Pradhyuman Thakur, 7, in a washroom at Gurgaon's Ryan International School in September. A Class XI boy, aged 16, is accused of slitting Pradhyuman's throat to have an exam postponed.

At Brightland, the 13-year-old girl is said to have dragged Hrithik Sharma, 7, to a first-floor toilet on Tuesday, tied his hands and legs with a dupatta and repeatedly stabbed him with the kitchen knife she had brought in her schoolbag from home.

She later locked the washroom and fled, police sources said. Hrithik, stabbed in the chest, abdomen and left side of the face, drew a teacher's attention by pounding on the door with his feet.

Hrithik, who is in hospital but out of danger, later allegedly told officers that a senior girl with a bob cut had attacked him.

Investigating officer Brijesh Singh said the police had found tufts of the girl's hair in the washroom that Hrithik had torn off while struggling to save himself.

"We identified her from her hair and scratches on her body. The boy says that while stabbing him, she was saying the school would close if he died," Singh said. He said the accused would be produced before a juvenile court and kept at a remand home.

The girl's father, a state government official, has claimed his daughter is being framed to protect "the real culprit, who belongs to an influential family".

School authorities had lodged a police case on Wednesday after the media reported the incident. Headmaster Rachit Manas, arrested on the charge of hiding the crime for a day, has got bail.

A group of parents protested at the school gates on Thursday evening.