- By Priyanka Koul
- Wed, 04 Feb 2026 07:57 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Gujarat: A court in Gujarat has sentenced a school teacher to over three years in prison for slapping a Class 9 student after she failed to complete her homework, an attack that ruptured the girl’s eardrum and led to permanent hearing damage.
In a ruling handed down on January 30, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Himanshu Choudhary described the incident as a clear misuse of authority by the teacher, resulting in severe and long-lasting harm to a minor.
The court highlighted that the 14-year-old girl had suffered a perforated left eardrum, leading to “chronic hearing impairment” and ongoing medical complications.
The assault took place on January 1, 2020, at Baa Shri Vasantkuvarba School, a private school in Gandhinagar. According to the prosecution, the teacher, Parulben Patel, became infuriated when the student did not complete her homework and struck her three times on the left ear. The blows caused substantial damage to the eardrum.
After the girl’s family filed a complaint, the police registered an FIR against Patel two days following the incident. Medical evidence presented to the court confirmed the severity of the injury. Even more than four years after the assault, the victim continued to receive medical treatment.
Patel was convicted under Section 325 of the Indian Penal Code for causing grievous bodily harm and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act for assaulting a child. She was sentenced to three years and three months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 50,000, which is to be given to the victim as compensation.
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Patel defended herself by claiming the student was undisciplined and that the case was fabricated by the parents. Her lawyer also sought a more lenient sentence, citing Patel’s alleged cancer diagnosis. However, the court dismissed the argument, noting that no supporting documents were provided.
The court emphasised that granting probation would undermine child protection efforts and fail to provide a deterrent to such conduct, asserting that the seriousness of the offence outweighed any mitigating circumstances.