Overview
- Doctors said prompt treatment prevented more serious damage, with one child discharged and seven under observation at the Phulbani district hospital.
- The incident occurred late at night in the Salaguda Sevashram hostel in Kandhamal’s Phiringia block while the boys, aged around 12 in classes 4 and 5, were asleep.
- District authorities suspended headmaster Manoranjan Sahu and ordered a formal inquiry, and the District Welfare Officer visited the injured students.
- The probe is assessing how the adhesive was obtained inside the campus, the motive behind the act, and the responsibilities of wardens and the superintendent.
- Parents and child-rights groups demanded stricter oversight of residential hostels, while a teacher indicated some staff suspect the act may have been a prank that went wrong.