Schoolboy's death leads to protest, police probe

A 12-year-old student at a private school in Vasant Vihar died in hospital on Tuesday, with his parents alleging the boy was injured after a scuffle with a classmate, even as police said they were probing the case and were yet to ascertain the cause of the death.

- Hemani Bhandari and Varun Bhandari

The boy, Prince, studied in Class 6 at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, where he was enrolled under the economically weaker sections (EWS) quota.

Investigators said an autopsy was performed on Tuesday evening, the results of which were not out as of going to print. However, senior police officers said that a scuffle had broken out in the school, doctors told them that the boy was "frothing at the mouth" and "may have had a medical condition". A case was filed under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) at Vasant Vihar police station.

Prince is survived by his father, Sagar, who works as a drain cleaner, his mother, Neetu, who is a homemaker, and his 14-year-old brother. His family, which belongs to the Scheduled Caste community, protested outside the school around 11am, accusing the administration of negligence. They remained there past midnight.