India school faces inquiry for 'humiliating' poor children

Officials in India are investigating claims that staff at a private school deliberately humiliated poorer children it was legally obliged to take in.

Parents of four children at the school in Bangalore complained that staff cut off tufts of their hair and denied them the same uniform as other students.

The children are reportedly from low-caste Hindu communities, enrolled under a recent anti-discrimination law.

There has been no response so far from the school itself.

A senior official in the Karnataka state department of education, Kumar Nayak, told the BBC that an inquiry was under way.

"Necessary action will be taken if the charge is proved," he said.

State Primary Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri told reporters the incident was "intolerable" and threatened legal action once officials had reported back to him.

Indian schools are supposed to reserve up to a quarter of their places for children from poorer backgrounds.

But the BBC's Andrew North in Delhi says many institutions oppose what is known as the Right to Education quota.  (BBC.co.uk)