Staff assaulted, property vandalised at Seventh Day Adventist School after student’s stabbing death

Tension spiralled into large-scale violence in Khokhra on Wednesday after the death of a Class 10 student of Seventh Day Adventist School, who was stabbed by a fellow student on Tuesday. What began as an angry protest by parents and community members turned into vandalism and assaults inside the school premises, forcing the police to intervene with a lathi-charge.

By morning, over 2,000 people — including parents, Sindhi community members and activists of Bajrang Dal, VHP and ABVP, many draped in saffron scarves and chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' — had gathered outside the school. The mob stormed into the campus, smashing doors, windows and glass panes, and damaging buses, cars and two-wheelers parked in the compound.

According to witnesses, the crowd indiscriminately beat up staff members, dragged one employee upstairs by his collar, and thrashed the principal and other staff they encountered. Even as police reached the spot, the mob continued to assault staff in their presence. The situation grew so volatile that when police attempted to escort injured staff out of the building, protesters attacked the vehicles and even tried to overturn a police van.

After ransacking the school, the mob sat on the adjoining road, staging a blockade and raising slogans against the police. Police eventually resorted to a lathi-charge to bring the situation under control. Senior officials including Maninagar MLA, DCP Baldev Desai and the local ACP rushed to the site to monitor the situation.

The violence was triggered by the death of 15-year-old Nayan Girishbhai Sindhi, a Class 10 student of the school, who succumbed to stab injuries on Tuesday at a private hospital in Maninagar. Police said Nayan had been attacked a week earlier by a Class 8 student and his friends near the Maniyasha Society gate, following a minor quarrel on the school staircase that had escalated into a grudge.

Following a complaint lodged by the boy’s mother, Khokhara police booked the accused juvenile for murder under the Juvenile Justice Act and said CCTV footage has been secured for investigation.

Senior officers admitted the violence exposed lapses in crowd control, as the mob managed to assault staff even under police presence. A senior police officer told Gujarat Samachar Digital, “We are verifying video evidence and action will be taken against all those involved in the rioting.”