The principal and a teacher of a government school in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district were on Saturday booked for thrashing a student after he wrote “Jai Shri Ram” on the classroom board, India Today reported.

The police said that the incident took place at the Government Higher Secondary School in Bani on Friday, according to PTI. A complaint filed by the boy’s father, Kuldeep Singh, said that his son was beaten up by Urdu teacher Farooq Ahmed and school principal Mohd Hafiz.

As the incident came to light, protests erupted in Bani, Basohli, Duggan and other places in Kathua district, The Times of India reported. The protestors alleged that Ahmed dragged the boy, who was studying in Class 10, till the principal’s office while physically assaulting him. Both of them subsequently “beat him to pulp” for writing the religious slogan, they claimed.

The boy is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

The teacher and the principal have been booked under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 75 (cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

The police said that the teacher was arrested on Saturday and the principal is absconding.

Kathua Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Minhas constituted a three-member committee to investigate the case and submit a report.