Maharashtra: Three including teacher held for cutting hair of 25 students

Mumbai: Three staff members of a private school here including a teacher and a director have been arrested for forcibly chopping off the hair of 25 students in order to punish them for not abiding by the prescribed dress code, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place at suburban Vikhroli yesterday after the morning prayers following which accused were arrested late last night on a complaint lodged by the parents of some students.

These 25 boys (from Class V-VIII) were punished for not keeping a short hair cut as per the school orders, they said.

The school had allegedly asked children a few days ago to maintain a cropped hairstyle but some of them failed to do so following which school Director Ganesh Bata (40), physical training teacher Milind Zanke (33) and office assistant Tushar Gore (32) decided to teach them a lesson, police said.

During the mass hair cut session, two boys were injured by the scissors, allegedly used by the trio to hand out the punishment, they said.

"We registered an offence against the three accused under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 335 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt on provocation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, and section of 75 (cruelty to child meted out by the custodian) of the Juvenile Justice Act and arrests were made subsequently," Sridhar Hanchate, Senior Police Inspector of Vikroli Police Station told PTI.

All the accused were produced before a local court today and further probe is on, he said.