6-year-old permanently blinded after stick thrown by teacher hits him in Karnataka's Chikkaballapur

A six-year-old boy was permanently blinded after his schoolteacher allegedly threw a stick in the classroom in Karnataka's Chikkaballapur district. Police said charges have been initiated against the teacher and five others involved in the incident that occurred last year.

The incident occurred on March 6 last year at a government school in Chintamani taluk of Chikkaballapur, according to a news agency PTI report, which mentioned that the child, Yeshwant, was in Class 1 back then.

The police informed that the teacher had thrown the stick in an attempt to control the classroom and it struck Yeshwant in the eye, causing severe damage.

The parents of the boy did not fully understand the extent of the his injuries at that point in time, however, his condition worsened after a few days.

Permanent loss of vision

The boy's parents then 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 Bengaluru's Victoria Hospital but even after that when his condition did not improve, the boy's parents took him to a private hospital in city where the doctors after examination concluded that he has lost his vision in the right eye, the report quoted a senior police officer.

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.