HAMIRPUR: A class 10 student allegedly threw acid on his four schoolmates, three of them girls, leaving them injured in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district on Saturday, police said.
The incident took place in the evening at a school in Utpur, they said.
Three class 10 girl students and a boy of class 9 suffered minor burns, police said, adding the attacker fled the spot after the incident.
The school was open in the evening as annual practical examinations were being held.
According to the class 9 student who was injured, his senior came out of the science lab just before the school was about to be closed and threw acid on him from a beaker.
He said he was sitting with three girls outside the class room at the time of the incident and some acid also fell on the faces of the girls who soon complained of a burning sensation.
Hamirpur SP Arjit Sen Thakur said a police party was rushed to the spot to investigate the incident.
No formal complaint has been lodged with the police so far but they are acting on the basis of reports circulating on the social media, he added.
Four students suffered minor burns and were given treatment at a local clinic and then sent back to their homes, the SP said.
The school principal confirmed the attack but refused to divulge any further details.
Insiders in the education department said dilute hydrochloric acid (HCL) kept in the laboratory might have been used in the attack.
It could have been more damaging had the attacker thrown concentrated acid on the schoolmates, they said.