Corporal punishment may be outlawed, but that has never stopped students from becoming targets of shocking callousness. A teacher in a Thane school thrashed a seven-year-old mercilessly while pulling her hair out, due to which the child has developed a gaping bald spot, as reported in a front-page story. The little girl’s crime was a delay in paying school fees.

It’s shocking that being a teacher, the individual was capable of such inhumanity. Also, the fact that the incident has not evoked a sense of regret is astonishing.