School teacher in Mizoram's Lunglei district has been arrested. (Representational)
A school teacher in Mizoram's Lunglei district has been arrested for allegedly sending home a six-year-old girl from school after stripping off her school uniform, police said on Saturday.
The accused teacher Lalbiakengi was arrested on Saturday following a complaint by a child protection unit, the police said.
The School Education department has served a show cause notice to the teacher, who was working at a government school at Thangpui village in south Mizoram's Lunglei district.
The state's apex student body Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) also demanded her termination.
The incident took place at a government run primary school at Thangpui village on August 25.
The child's mother Nancy Lalnunsangi said that her daughter, who was studying in class-I, had been physically assaulted by a boy at the school on August 22.
"My daughter was beaten black and blue by her classmate for which she vomited blood and felt abdominal pain. However, as she was so eager to go back to school with the school uniform which she wore for the first time this year, she went back the next day only to be beaten again by the same boy," she told PTI.
Angry that her daughter was again beaten by the same body, she went to the school and scolded the boy.
Subsequently, the school teacher called her over the phone and rebuked her citing she breached the school rules for going to the school and scolding the boy, Nancy said.
The teacher even complained in a WhatsApp group, she said.
"I was so angry and frustrated that I went back to the school on August 25 to take my child along with her brother. At this juncture, the teacher intervened and told me if I were to take home my child I should leave her uniform behind as there is another student who needed one. Then, she stripped my daughter off her uniform in front of her classmates and let her go with only her underwear," Nancy said.
Meanwhile, Mizoram School Education Minister Lalchhandama said that a show cause notice has been served to the teacher a day after the incident to give an explanation.
The teacher will appear before the district education officer on Monday, he said.
Citing human rights violations, the MZP demanded that the teacher must be sacked as she is not qualified to continue as a teacher.
MZP president Lalnunmawia Pautu said that the student body would meet education minister and education director H Lalthlangliana to submit representation demanding the termination of the teacher.