PURNEA, June 22 -- A Class 1 student was critical after unknown persons stabbed him around 20 times with a sharp weapon at a private school's hostel in Bihar's Banka district on Monday morning, police said, adding that the eight-year-old was undergoing treatment at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital (JLNMCH) in Bhagalpur.

Police said that the minor was found unconscious in a pool of blood near the toilet on the first floor of the hostel. While school owner Rajeev Kumar Yadav could not be contacted for his comments, his father Kailash Yadav said that the child was rushed to Bounsi primary health centre where doctors referred the child to the JLNMCH.

According to the police, the boy, a native of Jamuari village under Katori...