A 12-year-old boy studying in sixth grade in a government school in North Delhi’s Shastri Nagar died on January 20, nine days after being allegedly thrashed by his school seniors.

According to the Delhi Police, a postmortem was carried out to determine the cause of his death, based on the findings of which legal action will be taken. The report is, however, awaited.

A senior police official aware of the matter said that the autopsy was conducted by a team of three doctors that was formed on the Delhi government’s request, the Hindustan Times (HT) reported.

The officer also said that the deceased boy’s family had verbally complained of the incident and alleged that some of the senior students in their son’s school had assaulted him. They also claimed that a private doctor exercised negligence while providing medical treatment to their son, which contributed to his death.

According to the report, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Manoj Kumar Meena said that the police has asked them to lodge a written complaint.

The Delhi government issued a statement on Tuesday in which it said that a committee has been ordered to inquire into the matter and the school’s head has been asked to submit a formal report. It also stated that the government had directed the committee to file its report within two days, HT reported.

“Delhi government’s heart goes out to the bereaved family who lost their child in such a tragic incident. The alleged incident took place outside of the school’s premises. The Delhi government is actively taking essential measures, including counselling students, to foster a positive state of mind and prevent any potential unforseen incidents,” HT quoted the Delhi government’s statement.