Maid throws boiling water on kids in school, 10 hurt

KOLKATA: Ten Class-II students of Salt Lake School at CA block were scalded when the maidservant of an adjoining house allegedly threw a bucket of boiling water on them. The kids��� crime ��� they were playing with small stones, and some pebbles fell on the house next door, CA-219.
The maid, Archana Sanki, is absconding. One of the residents of the house reportedly told the school vice-principal that Archana had ���done the right thing���.There were deep burn marks on the tender skin of the seven-year-olds. It���s a miracle that none of the kids was scalded in the eye.
The incident occurred around 9:20 am, during tiffin break. The school shares a boundary wall with a house and some stones that the kids were throwing at each other fell there. This apparently enraged Archana. She allegedly hauled in a bucket of hot water and threw it over the wall, into the school compound.
The children���s cheerful squeals turned into screams in an instant. They were burnt on the head, chest and arms. Terrified and in tears, they ran into the school and informed teachers Subhomitra Jana, Sahana Chanda and Deboshree Das. The school immediately started giving first-aid while vice-principal Sharmila Das and school secretary Sumit Sengupta were informed. The school then lodged a complaint against Archana at Bidhannagar North police station.
���I was playing with my friends when we were suddenly splashed with boiling hot water. The pain was terrible,��� said Owishi Roy, one of the injured. Her classmate Esha Basu, resident of Salt Lake���s CK-235, was injured in the chest. ���It happened all of a sudden,��� she said. ���These kids had a lucky escape but it could have been dangerous. I will take it up with the school authorities,��� said her mother Susmita Basu.