Police say the eight-year-old, a third-grade student, lured the girl to a classroom by claiming her father was waiting for her there before assaulting her.
The victim, a kindergarten student, was reported missing after an auto-rickshaw driver arrived to pick her up but could not locate her. “When the girl was not found even after school ended, we went in to look for her. No one there knew where she was,” her father told BBC Punjabi.
He said the boy eventually told him the girl was in a classroom upstairs, where he found his seriously injured daughter. “When I saw her, I almost screamed. Looking at her condition, I thought they’d killed my daughter. If a child isn’t safe in school, then where will she be safe?” he said.
The girl was initially taken to a local hospital before being transferred to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in nearby Chandigarh. A statement from PGIMER confirmed the six-year-old was “brought to the hospital with critical injuries” and is under the care of a multidisciplinary team of specialists closely monitoring her condition.
“The circumstances involving this little child are deeply concerning. We want to ensure that she receives the best possible medical care, along with all the support and comfort she needs,” hospital director Vivek Lal said in the statement. The hospital later released a photo showing Dr. Lal with the girl sitting in her father’s lap and smiling.
In a video statement on Saturday, senior police official Aditi Singh said authorities had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the school management for negligence and were investigating the incident. “The boy is being evaluated by mental health experts under the Juvenile Justice Act, and further action will be taken accordingly,” she added.
Under Indian law, an eight-year-old cannot face criminal punishment or imprisonment. The child has been sent to an observation home run by the Juvenile Justice Board, another senior police official, Amarinder Singh, confirmed. He noted that the emphasis in cases involving minors is on reformation and counselling.
Meanwhile, the Haryana state government has formed a committee to investigate the incident and determine whether there was any negligence on the part of the school.