At present, there is no statutory definition of corporal punishment of children in the Indian law. Definition of corporal punishment can at best be only indicative. In keeping with the provisions of the RTE Act, 2009, corporal punishment could be classified as 

(a) physical punishment, 

(b) mental harassment and 

(c) discrimination. 

Corporal punishment will also include all forms of sexual offences as per the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

Physical punishment: The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child defines “corporal” or “physical” punishment as any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light. Examples of physical punishment include but are not restricted to the following:

1. Causing physical harm to children by hitting, kicking, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling the hair, boxing ears, smacking, slapping, spanking with or without any implement (cane, stick, shoe, chalk, dusters, belt, whip, giving electric shock etc.);
   
2. Making children assume an uncomfortable position (standing on bench, standing against the wall in a chair-like position, standing with school bag on head, holding ears through legs, kneeling etc.);
   
3. Forced ingestion of anything (for example: washing soap, mud, chalk, hot spices etc.);
   
4. Detention in the classroom, library, toilet or any closed space in the school.
   

Mental harassment is understood as any non-physical treatment that is detrimental to the academic and psychological well-being of a child. It includes but is not restricted to the following:

1. Sarcasm that hurts or lowers the child’s dignity;
2. Calling names and scolding using humiliating adjectives, intimidation;
3. Using derogatory remarks for the child, including pinning of slogans;
4. Ridiculing the child with regard to his/her background, status, parental occupation, caste or with regard to his/her health status or that of the family especially HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis;
5. Belittling a child in the classroom due to his/her inability to meet the teacher’s expectations of academic achievement.
6. Using punitive measures to correct a child and even labelling him/her as difficult; such as a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who may not only fare poorly in academics, but also pose a problem in management of classroom behaviour;
7. ‘Shaming’ the child to motivate the child to improve his/her performance;
8. Ridiculing a child with developmental problems such as learning difficulty or a speech disorder, such as, stammering or speech articulation disorder.

Discrimination is understood as prejudiced views and behaviour towards any child because of her/his caste/gender, occupation and region or non-payment of fees or for being a student admitted under the 25% reservation to disadvantaged groups or weaker sections of society under the RTE, 2009. It can be latent or manifest and includes but is not restricted to the following:

1. Bringing social attitudes and prejudices of the community into the school by using belittling remarks against a specific social group or gender or ability/disability;
2. Assigning different duties and seating in schools based on caste, community or gender prejudices (for example, cleaning of toilets assigned by caste; task of making tea assigned by gender).
3. Commenting on academic ability based on caste or community prejudices; Denying mid-day meal, library books, uniforms, sports facilities to a child or group of children based on caste, community, religion or gender;
4. Deliberate neglect.

An environment free of corporal punishment should be stipulated as one of the conditions for giving recognition/no-objection certificate (NOC) to a school by the State Government under the RTE Act and also as one of the conditions for giving affiliation to a school by the State Board.