In a shocking case of corporal punishment, a 10-year-old boy died after being allegedly beaten up by his principal on suspicion of stealing pencils, police said on Thursday, reports Deccan Chronicle.

The state is notorious for such incidents with some similar cases being reported barely a few months back.

Shiva Rawat, a Class-III student of Chaudhary Dwarika Prasad Academy at Rahilamau village in Baddupur area in the district - 35 km from Lucknow - was mercilessly beaten up by headmaster Lalit Kumar Verma on Tuesday, Superintendent of Police Abdul Hameed said.

Shiva, son of one Chhavi Raj, was found to be in possession of "stolen" pencils and eraser after a teacher searched the bags of all students in the class on receiving a complaint about the missing stationery items.

When the teacher informed the principal about the recovery, he severely beat up Shiva, who complained of stomach ache and began vomiting blood on reaching home. He said Verma had punched him in his stomach, police said.

After Shiva's condition deteriorated yesterday, efforts were made to admit him to Fatehpur hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered and the headmaster arrested, the SP said.

District Magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra said an inquiry is being conducted through basic education officer P N Singh.

Manager of the school Piyush Chandra Verma said the principal was working with the school for the last seven years and his performance was satisfactory.

The Manager said the boy was already ill, while the principal refuted the allegation that the boy had died of beating.

The principal said the allegation that the boy died due to thrashing was baseless and maintained that only minor punishment was given to make the students realise their mistakes.

Corporal punishment is banned in schools, but there have been many reports of abuse.

Last November, a 16-year-old student killed himself after his teacher allegedly beat and mocked him for failing to keep up with class assignments.

He left a suicide note blaming his teacher.