JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA - The mother of a seven-year-old Tamil school pupil alleged that a teacher injured her son's right palm after hitting him with a rotan.

Housewife V. Thanaletchumi, 30, said her son S. Vagesh, seven, a Year One pupil of SJK (T) Yahya Awal, came home from school on July 17 complaining that his hand was hurt after a teacher hit him.

"He showed me his right palm and it had a gash on it. His handkerchief had bloodstains," she claimed.

Thanaletchumi said that, according to her son, he was hit during his Bahasa Melayu class for writing his notes wrongly.

"My son, however, said he had written what the teacher wrote on the black board," she said.

She added that, on the following day, she lodged a police report on the matter and went to the Education Department to register her complaint.

"My son was taken for a medical examination," she said, adding that her daughter S. Kavitaanjali, nine, was hit by another teacher at the same school last year.

Meanwhile, the school's authorities declined to comment on the matter, as police were investigating.

When contacted, Johor Education Department director Sufaat Tumin said the department was investigating the allegation.