Class XI student beaten up in school by gang of outsiders

The police have arrested three people in the case. Both are residents of Colony Number 5 and the others involved are also reportedly from the same colony.

The incident occurred in the morning when the school got over at 10.30 am due to a half-day holiday. A group of 15 to 20 youths,all in their twenties and armed with swords,knives and sticks,entered the school and started beating Firoz Khan mercilessly. Khan,who is a resident of Burail and whose father Yousuf Khan is a labourer,was stabbed twice with a long knife.

There was panic in the school,with most of the students being out of their classes waiting to leave. Seeing the outsiders attacking their student,the teachers jumped to his rescue. They tried to take a seriously wounded Khan away from the clutches of the attackers,who did not stop following him even when the teachers intervened.

In the clash that followed,three teachers were injured. Khan,who was profusely bleeding by then,was taken to the principal’s room where the teachers made attempts to give him first aid. A history teacher of the school,Amarjit,managed to capture one of the attackers,who was then taken to the principal’s room. However,the group of assailants collected again and attacked the principal’s room,smashing its glass door and escaping with their accomplice.

Meanwhile,the police were called and Khan was rushed to Government Medical College and Hospital,(GMCH),Sector 32. Recalling the incident,Amarjit,who too received injuries,said,“After school got over,Firoz told me that some youths were trying to attack him. I said I would accompany him when he went out of school. But hardly had he taken a few steps away from me when a group of armed youngsters entered the school and stabbed Firoz twice. They also entered into a scuffle with me. Our main concern was to ensure that our student was saved from their clutches.”

The blood-stained floor of the principal’s room and a sofa soaked with blood were telling signs of what had ensued at the school. Physical Education teacher Kanwaljit Kaur was among those who rushed to the rescue and even she was not spared by gang. “The attackers seemed to have come with the intention of killing Firoz and would have done so if we had not intervened. There was panic among the students and teachers,” she said.

The police said that the attack seemed to be a sequel to a scuffle that had taken place outside the school premises on Wednesday. “We have arrested three people and are conducting raids to nab the others,” said a police official.

Principal Tejinder Pal Kaur said that the attack appeared pre-planned and complaints have been given to the police and the Education Department. “Firoz did not tell his teachers that there had been some problem on Wednesday; otherwise we would have taken action. The teachers faced the attackers today and managed to help the student. All of them seemed drunk or were high on drugs,” she said.

The teachers now fear for their safety and want cops to be deployed outside the school. Firoz was admitted to the Emergency Ward of GMCH-32. His family reached the hospital after the incident and were in a state of shock. Firoz’s brother Iqbal khan,who works as a driver,said,“He had no animosity with anyone and was a very decent boy. We do not know why he was attacked.”

Many of his friends reached the hospital to donate blood. One of them,Rohit,said he too had been hit on the forehead. “Our group of friends was standing outside the school on Wednesday when someone hit me with his bike. An argument followed and the boys threatened us. They were the ones involved in the attack,” confirmed Rohit.