Gujarat probes ‘cuts’ found on wrists of 35 govt school students

The sources said the incident was reported on March 21 at the Mota Munjiyasar Government Primary School in Amreli district when the principal, Harshaben Makwana, learnt that “at least 20 students, including five girls, from Classes 5-8 had allegedly made cuts on their wrists under some challenge”. Following this, Makwana called the parents.

While parents initially believed that the shallow cuts “were the result of children playing in school and getting hurt”, school authorities soon realised the full scope of the matter, said police officials. “About 35-40 children had the same kind of marks on their hands. It was after noticing these marks on several children that the school principal convened a parent-teacher conference and informed the parents,” said Amreli SP Sanjay Kharat.

When asked about the “challenge”, SP Kharat said that it was prevalent among the students of Classes 6 and 7. “Children would challenge one another to make the cuts on their hands. If a student agreed and did it, they would get `10 from the challenger and if they refused, they would have to pay the challenger `5,” he said. However, he added that the students had just been using the blades of pencil sharpeners and not actual blades or knives to make the cuts.