Abhay Solanki was held back in his classroom for over four hours on Friday after everyone left.
A four-year-old student was held hostage for hours at his school in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly because his parents had missed the deadline for paying the fee. The owner and the principal of the school in Bulandshahr have been missing since they were charged by the child's family with illegally confining him.
On Friday, Abhay Solanki, a student of the nursery class in the Ashok Public and Senior Secondary school, was held back in his classroom for over four hours on Friday after everyone left. When he didn't return home, his frantic parents reached the school and learnt that the child had been "detained".
School officials, confronting the angry parents, allegedly admitted that they had kept back little Abhay. They had allegedly thought they would release him only after his parents came for him and made the payment.
"The child was held hostage at the school after school for hours because his father had not paid the tuition fee ... The school was waiting for the parents to come to take the child back and they had planned to release the child only after the fees was paid . We will not spare anyone in the case," said PK Tiwari, a senior police officer.
The parents say they had told the school management that they would pay the fees as soon as they could. Abhay's father, a farmer, had explained that he was trying to raise the amount.
Sources in the school have denied that the child was detained. "He missed his school bus. We called his parents and asked them to come and take the child and reminded them that they had not paid fees for three months now. We know that the family is poor and we have waived tuition fees for two other children from the same extended family," said an official.
This case has emerged at a time the state of schools and the safety of children is under sharp scrutiny after a Class 2 student was found with his throat slit inside the toilet of the Ryan International School in Gurgaon and a five-year-old girl was raped by a peon inside a Delhi school.