Niranjan Takle, Malegaon (Maharashtra): Seven-year-old Shoaib is shattered. A day after his school teacher attacked this Class I student with a knife, the boy struggles to find words to describe his trauma. "She called me to her house and there she took out a knife from her purse.

She told me there was a fly sitting on my throat and then she stabbed me," recalls the boy. The teacher, Sajeda — of the Chirag Primary School in Malegaon around 200 km from Mumbai — is behind bars. However, the police are still not clear about the motive of the crime.

The school says that the teacher was suffering from mental disorder, but then the question remains — why did they employ such a teacher in the first place, risking the of their students? Shoaib's family says the school is refusing to take any responsibility and that the police is being lenient with the accused.

Police Inspector Nasir Sheikh says that the teacher has been charged under Section 326 and Section 324 of the Indian Penal Code. But Shoaib's family is upset that the teacher has been charged not with kidnapping or attempt to kill, but merely attacking with a weapon.

His uncle, Haroon Sharif says, "If it was the child of one of the policemen, then they would have definitely slapped Section 307 on the teacher." Is this a case of psychotic violence or is there some other deeper motive behind the crime? It might be some time before these answers come forth, but Shoaib is perhaps scarred for life.