Teacher thrashes student with cane at Ujjain school; probe ordered after video goes viral

UJJAIN: A video showing a teacher repeatedly thrashing a student with a cane at a residential school run by Maharshi Sandipani Ved Vidya Pratishthan in Ujjain surfaced on Saturday and quickly went viral on social media, prompting police to initiate a preliminary probe into the incident.

The clip, around 51 seconds long, shows a teacher beating a child inside what appears to be an office room while questioning him about sleeping on another student’s bed. The child is seen writhing in pain as the teacher continues striking him with a cane multiple times.

In the video, a few other adults present in the room appear to be watching the incident without intervening. Sources associated with the institution identified the teacher seen in the clip as Samveda teacher Dattadas Shevde.

Police said the incident is suspected to have taken place around March 15 at night on the residential campus of the institute, which provides Vedic education and hosts students from different parts of the country.

According to local sources, the student had already gone to sleep when he was called to the office and allegedly beaten.

Chintaman police station in-charge Hemraj Yadav said authorities have taken note of the viral video and have started gathering details.

“We have come across the video circulating on social media. We are verifying the facts and collecting information about the teacher and the student involved. Further legal action will be taken based on the findings,” Yadav said.

Attempts to contact the teacher seen in the video were unsuccessful. When reached by phone, he reportedly disconnected the call after learning that it was from the media.



Repeated attempts to contact Virupaksha Jaddipal, secretary of the Maharshi Sandipani Ved Vidya Pratishthan, also did not elicit any response at the time of filing this report.

An FIR has been registered against the accused teacher Dattadas Shewde under sections 115, 296 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.