Police in India are searching for a teacher accused of beating a low-caste student to death over a spelling mistake.

According to a police complaint by the father of the student, Nikhil Dohre was struck with a rod and kicked until he fell unconscious by his high school teacher earlier this month after misspelling the word “social” in an examination.

The 15-year-old died from his injuries on Monday at a hospital in northern Uttar Pradesh state, and the accused has since fled the area.

Dohre was a member of the Dalit community, which sits at the lowest rung of India’s caste system and has been subject to prejudice and discrimination for centuries.

Hundreds of people took to the streets on Monday after news of Dohre’s death spread in Auraiya district, the location of the attack.

The crowd demanded the teacher’s arrest before the cremation of the boy’s body and torched a police vehicle.

Around a dozen, protesters have been arrested.