A fight with three of his classmates after a verbal duel on ‘who is stronger’ allegedly led to the death of a Class VII student here on Thursday, preliminary investigation carried out by the police revealed.
Jaswanth (13), a student of a private school in the Lalitha Nagar area of the city, had died on the school campus, and the police registered a case of suspicious death.
A senior police officer said Jaswanth allegedly had a dispute with one of his classmates on who among them was stronger. They had reportedly decided to sort out the issue after school hours.
Jaswanth and the three other children had left school after 4.30 p.m. and gathered at a place located about 200 metres from the school.
The fight between Jaswanth and the other boy commenced soon after the two other children started the countdown.
Even as the two classmates watched, the other boy landed a blow on Jaswanth’s chest, following which he immediately fell unconscious.
Upon coming to know of it, the school teachers rushed to the spot and immediately shifted Jaswanth to a hospital, where he was declared “brought dead.”
Jaswanth’s body was shifted to the King George Hospital (KGH) for a post-mortem examination.
The school management declared a holiday for the students on Friday.
Jaswanth’s family, which hails from Hiramandalam in Srikakulam district, resides in the Akkayyapalem area of the city. His father ekes out a living doing petty jobs and has another child.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Town police had registered a case. The juvenile in conflict with law would be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and would be sent to the Juvenile Home, said a police officer investigating the case.
Role of parents
Another senior police officer said the influence of action movies and social media might have had an impact on the children. The juvenile in conflict with law was learning boxing.
“Parents must keep a watch on their children’s activities. Their guidance can prevent such incidents,” the police officer said.
“Every person will have some kind of aggressive instincts. But children’s judgemental capacity will be less,” said psychiatrist N.N. Raju.
“A number of factors would have an influence on the young minds, and these include influence of social media, movies depicting violence, unrealistic and violent video games on the Internet, and societal changes,” Dr. Raju added.
“Inculcating moral values along with education can make a lot of difference,” he opined.
