A teacher in a school in Pune has been booked for allegedly beating a six-year-old student for a spelling mistake in his workbook, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday.

The boy, who lives in the Dhawade Wasti locality, was taken to a hospital on March 15 after his father came across injuries on his body. The child told his father that he was hit on the head with a board duster and beaten with a wooden scale on his back. The teacher then allegedly smashed his head against the bench he was sitting on. The beatings left marks on his back and a swelling on the right side of his head.

“The case was registered after the MLC [medico-legal case] was filed,” Assistant Sub-Inspector RD Tapkir said. “The school then submitted a letter saying the teacher was terminated from the school immediately.”

Sanjay Patil, an official with the administration of the Swami Samarth English Medium School, told The Times of India that the institute had learned about the case only after the complaint was registered with the police.