Six-year-old Karnataka boy loses vision year after teacher hurled stick

Chikkaballapur: A six-year-old boy lost his vision due to an injury sustained in his right eye, a year after his teacher allegedly hurled a stick at the students in classroom which accidentally hit him.

The teacher and five others have been booked in connection with the incident, police said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred at a government school in Chintamani taluk of this district on March 6 last year when Yeshwant was in class 1, they said.

According to the police, while controlling students, the teacher allegedly hurled a stick at some of them, which accidentally hit and damaged Yeshwant's right eye. Initially, his parents did not realise the effect of the injury could be such long lasting.

Some days later when his condition worsened, the boy's parents took the child to an ophthalmologist in Chintamani who referred him to a district hospital.

After examining the boy's eye, two surgeries were performed in December last year by the doctors at Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru but even after that when his condition did not improve, the boy's parents took him to a private hospital in Bengaluru where the doctors after examination concluded that he has lost his vision in the right eye, a senior police officer said.

Following this, the parents and locals staged a protest outside the Batlahalli police station on Sunday evening following which a case was registered against the accused teacher and five others, including the taluk block education officer in connection with the incident.

"Based on the complaint given by the child's parents, we have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for offence including physical assault and invoked Juvenile Justice Act," the police officer said.