A shocking case of caste-based violence has emerged from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district, where a 15-year-old Dalit Class 11 student was allegedly beaten by his teacher for touching a water bottle. The incident occurred on Saturday at a private higher secondary school in Haripur village.

The student, who suffered fractures on two fingers and injuries to his jaw, shoulder, and thigh, said he was confined in a room after school and brutally assaulted by teacher Mangal Singh Shakya. The assault allegedly began when the student drank from Shakya’s water bottle, prompting the teacher to say, “How dare you touch the bottle? Now it has become untouchable.”

The boy claims he went to Kishni Police Station the same day, but action was delayed. After approaching Mainpuri SSP Ganesh Prasad Saha on April 1, an FIR was registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for grievous hurt, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, and relevant clauses of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. DSP Bhogaon Satya Prakash Sharma has been assigned to the investigation.

School manager Rakesh Chauhan disputed the allegations, claiming the student had already graduated and was visiting for a character certificate. He alleged the boy misbehaved with a clerk and tore a register. Chauhan admitted the teacher “may have used some force” but dismissed the water bottle incident as “baseless”.

The case has sparked outrage over caste discrimination in schools.