‘Seventh Day Adventist school in Ahmedabad ignored at least 12 clashes before fatal attack on Class 10 student’

Ahmedabad: The murder of Class 10 student Nayan Santani has exposed a troubling pattern of unchecked violence at his Maninagar school, where police now say at least a dozen brawls had taken place before Tuesday's fatal stabbing. City crime branch officers are probing why repeated fights were overlooked and whether Seventh Day Adventist Higher Secondary School took any preventive steps.

The officers, on Thursday, sought reports from the district education officer, city control room, and local police, following inputs that at least 12 incidents of brawls had taken place on or around the school campus.

A crime branch officer said that preliminary information from locals, students, and school staff indicated this was not the first time violence had erupted at the school. "There have been multiple instances of fights between students in the past, though not of this aggravated nature. We will examine the nature of each case to establish how many directly involved the victim and the juvenile accused, and how many were among other students," the officer said.

Locals told police that student fights were so frequent they often created panic-like situations outside the school gates. In the latest case, Santani had been in conflict with the cousin of the accused juvenile, which escalated and ended with his fatal stabbing.

"We have asked the local police and control room for records of student altercations. We are also checking whether the deceased and the accused had fought earlier outside the school, and what actions, if any, the school authorities took in those instances," said a senior crime branch officer.

Investigators confirmed that both Santani and the accused had "a long history of teasing and bullying each other" that culminated in the murder. Fellow students also revealed that both groups had been reprimanded by the principal and asked to quit fighting about a week or 10 days ago, after one particularly heated altercation.

On Tuesday afternoon, just after school was dismissed, Santani was attacked following another flare-up. The juvenile accused, armed with a paper cutter and accompanied by a Class 8 student, stabbed him in the stomach outside the school. Despite being badly wounded, Santani managed to run back into the school compound before collapsing. He was rushed to Sardar Patel Hospital by fellow students but succumbed to his injuries.



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