In Garauli, Faizabad district, 16-year-old Sunita, student of Class IX at Shahid Ahmad Inter College, died on Tuesday as her headmaster’s gun misfired.

Raghuraj Pratap Singh had forgotten to unload the double-barrelled gun, which he had loaded the day before. In the social science class, he had kept it on a bench, with the barrels pointed at the students.

Veer Bahadur Singh, a student of Class XII said there were around 500 students in the school at the time. “I was in my class and around 10:30 am, we heard a gunshot from the playground, where our head teacher was taking the class under a tree. I came out with the others and saw Sunita lying on the ground, her head almost blown apart.”

Singh has been arrested under Section 304 (A) of the IPC. He is the only one in the 350-strong village to possess a licensed weapon.

Vishwanath Pratap Singh, one of his eight sons, said: “He did not carry the gun to school regularly. But recently, some miscreants had threatened him when he objected to their eveteasing. He has even informed the local police about it.”

Jai Prakash Yadav, Station House Officer of the Inyatnagar, said there was no FIR, just a complaint from the Principal. “But we do not buy the argument that he had started taking gun just few days ago. It is common knowledge that he had been carrying it everywhere for the last 12-17 years.”

Sunita was one of the seven children of Dalit farmer Sukhram. Her father’s favourite, she was the only girl he sent to school.

Despite being only 16, she had been married a few months ago. Her in-laws had agreed to let her study, believing it would help her get a job. “I had her brought back from her in-laws, hoping if she could complete Class X, she could be of help to them. Now I’ve been robbed of her,” said Sukhram.

There are over 35 per cent teachers and education officers in the state who carry guns all the time.

Last October, a teacher had shot a school inspector during inspection in Shravasti district. Today’s incident, however, has moved the Secondary and Basic Education Department to take action.

“Such incidents have now forced us to think seriously on the issue,” said Sanjay Mohan, the Director for Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education. The department is planning to write to district magistrates, asking them to check the trend.

The Basic Education department also issued a warning to teachers and threatened to punish them if they carried guns to school.

“Carrying weapons by teachers or officials is a common practice but we never took this seriously. However, I have issued orders to all schools, in-charge of Block Resource Centres etc. to stop this practice immediately,” said Rakesh Srivastava, Basic Education Officer, Lucknow.