Kochi: The Infopark Police in Kochi on Sunday registered a case against six school students and two teachers based on a complaint by the parents of a Class 10 girl student who was allegedly ragged and assaulted by her classmates.

The case has been registered against four boys and two girls and two teachers of the Government High School, Thengode, near Thrikkakara.

In the complaint, the family alleged that the accused students threw velvet bean powder (naikurana podi in Malayalam) on the girl, causing severe itching, on February 3. The girl had to be hospitalised for several days as severe itching caused injuries to her, including in her private parts. The girl had to get psychiatric care too to get out of the trauma.

The accused students have been charged under Section 118 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with the offense of causing harm using dangerous means or weapons.

The teachers have been slapped with Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, dealing with punishment for cruelty to children. "The teachers have been booked on the complaint that they did not take care of the girl and neglected her complaint," a police officer told Onmanorama.

The police will be filing a social background report of the accused children to the Juvenile Justice Board which will deal with the case since the accused are minors.

The case had been registered a day before the SSLC exams for the accused and victim students were scheduled to begin.

The mother of the victim girl had told media that a four-member group in the class used to verbally abuse her daughter and often shove desks at her from behind during class hours. She said she had initially ignored the incident as an act of mischief by schoolchildren but decided to file the complaint after becoming convinced that the itching powder was brought to the school with the intention of hurting her daughter.