The Jadibuti Metropolitan Police Sector, on Saturday, arrested a teacher from the Jagriti Academy for allegedly forcing 34 students to cut their hands using sharpener blades as punishment.

After Naya Patrika, on Saturday, published a report about the harsh punishment by the school teacher, the local police swung into action.

Read: Physically punishing students is ineffective, harmful and illegal but teachers continue to do it

The story was widely shared on social media. People were outraged when they heard about the punishment.

“Schools should be places to get knowledge. It is not a place where students have to face violence. This shows how private schools have failed in hiring trained teachers. This is frustrating...schools hire less trained teachers and pay less,” wrote a Twitter user.

Another user wrote, “This kind of action should be strictly punished by the local authorities and strict action should be taken against the teacher.”

Sita Laxmi Karmacharya, a social science teacher who has been teaching for more than a decade in the school, was arrested following a formal police complaint against her by the school management.

According to the Jadibuti Metropolitan Police Sector, as soon as they heard about the incident, they went to school to collect the details and instructed the school to file a written complaint against Karmacharya.

“Although the school authorities said they have taken action by firing the teacher, we told them to file an official complaint,” said Inspector Subhadra Waiba Lama, in-charge of the Police Sector.

‘Today, we contacted all 34 students’ parents and a medical checkup was conducted,” she said.

“After getting the complaint, we took her into custody and she is with us now,” said Lama. “As we are not authorised to pursue the case, we will send her to the Baneshwor Metropolitan Police Circle. However, we are not sure if the case will proceed as the cuts [the students have incurred] are not that deep.”

The school authorities said they had fired Karmacharya last Friday.