Girl who attacked class I boy sent to juvenile home, principal arrested

LUCKNOW: The 12-year-old girl who attacked class I student has been identified. The girl was sent to Barabanki juvenile reform home on Thursday evening after being produced before juvenile justice board on Thursday evening.
On Tuesday morning a student of standard one Hritik Sharma was stabbed multiple times inside Brightland school in Aliganj. The profusely bleeding boy was rushed to KGMU trauma centre subsequently and is still recuperating.Chief minister Yogi Adityanath went to meet Hritik at the hospital on Thursday morning.
Giving his statement to police, the child said that a senior section girl took her to toilet when he was heading to the morning assembly. The girl then gagged the boy and started stabbing her with a kitchen knife. She also stuffed a piece of clothe inside the boy’s mouth.
Taking a leaf out of Gurugram Ryan International Murder case , the girl wanted to leave the school early. While trying to injure the boy fatally, her only intention was to get out of the school building.
In his statement the boy told police that while attacking her the senior girl said: Tumko marengey nahin to school kaise band hoga (If I do not kill you how would school get shut?)
Assuming that Hritik was lifeless, the girl left the toilet. However a staff member saw Hritik in a pool of blood and raised an alarm. He was taken to KGMU trauma centre thereafter. But school authorities did not inform either district inspector of school or Aliganj police.
Storm breaks out
It was on Wednesday morning doctors deputed at KGMU centre alerted the local sub-inspector about the development. Senior officials were alerted and a police team visited Brightland school. School principal tried to underplay the incident and said that the school authorities were worried about boy’s safety and hence could not inform police.
Probes were pressed and policemen recorded boy’s statement. Hritik also gave description of the girl to policemen. Based on the inputs police launched a manhunt to trace female students of standard VI and VII who had short hair. SSP Lucknow Deepak Kumar said that Hritik had stated that the girl kept boy-cut hairstyle. Based on the description police got some sketches made and started hunting for similar looking girls.
On Thursday morning hundreds of parents anguished at the incident collected at the gate of the school and demanded immediate action against the management. The tension could be diffused only after police arrived and placed the principal under arrest. The school remained shut through the day.
First breakthrough
With some clues in their hands, the police team scanned CCTV cameras throughout Wednesday to trace the girl behind attack. A girl who was acting in a weird manner was spotted. “She would keep fidgeting while walking around the school building. She kept noticing her hand and legs frequently without any reason. We got in touch with school teachers to find out who she was,” said Kumar.
The girl was identified and her photograph was shown to Hritik along with few more photographs. According to police the boy was confident while identifying the actual culprit who was also caught fidgeting at the campus.
The girl denied her role initially but on being confronted, she broke down. However justifying her act, she told investigators that she was addicted to a self-harm game and injuring somebody was the task assigned to her. However police did not buy her theory and stuck to boy’s statement.
Prodding her further it was found that the girl had gone missing from her house on two occasions on September 28 and November 11 last year. Daughter of village development officer, the girl had stolen Rs 1 lakh from her father’s cupboard and came back on her own few days later. On both the occasions, Aliganj police was informed.
Principal Rachit Manas was placed under arrest on Thursday following protest of parents. IPC section 202 which amounts to withholding information was pressed against him. The girl was booked under IPC sections 325 and 326. The kitchen knife used in the crime was recovered from the toilet and some hair strand were also lifted. The samples were sent for forensic examination at Mahanagar laboratory.
Unusual traits should be monitored
While the case was cracked, people following the incident were worried about the repercussions the case would cause across country. “Children would use violence as a tool to force schools to shut down. It is also a wakeup call for parents as they need to keep a close watch on unusual activities and traits of their children. In this case parents of the girls should have counselled her properly. Going to a child specialist or psychiatrist should not be seen as a taboo anymore. Children get influenced due to social media, television and take wrong steps,” said head of psychology department at National PG college PK Khatri.
The road ahead
Soon after Gurugram episode state government and then director general of police had issued directives for school management to install CCTV cameras and take required steps to ensure such incidents do not take place. But clearly the directives were not taken seriously by administrative and police officials. At Brightland school several violations were found. Kumar said that a report would be sought from local SHO and CO and fresh directives would be issued.