12-Year-Old Dies After School Sit-Up Punishment

A 12-year-old girl died in Mumbai on November 14 after her condition deteriorated following an alleged punishment of 100 sit-ups for arriving late to school a week earlier in Vasai, Maharashtra, prompting widespread outrage and an official investigation into the incident.

The girl, a sixth-grade student at Shri Hanumant Vidya Mandir in Vasai East, Palghar district, was reportedly among several students punished on November 8 for being about 10 minutes late. According to her family, the class teacher instructed them to perform the sit-ups while carrying their schoolbags, which led to immediate complaints of severe neck and back pain. The girl's mother said her daughter returned home that evening unable to move freely and struggling with pain from her neck downward. Her condition worsened rapidly, with difficulty breathing, prompting hospitalization first in Nalasopara and later transfer to JJ Hospital in Mumbai, where she passed away Friday night.

Family members attributed the death directly to the punishment. "She was crying in pain and kept saying she could not move her back," her father, Sunil Gond, said. The mother confronted the teacher, who justified the measure by noting...