A principal and a guard of a government residential school for girls were arrested for allegedly sexually harassing the students in Jharkhand’s Dumka district on Friday, reported The Times of India.
The students had submitted a written complaint to the Deputy Commissioner of Dumka on Thursday accusing two teachers, the principal and the guard of touching them inappropriately, drinking alcohol inside the school and showing them pornographic videos, reported the newspaper.
The complaint alleged that the teachers took the students and the school staff to their home to do domestic chores, reported The Indian Express. The students also alleged that the principal sought money from their parents to buy alcohol and the accused accused men used community-specific derogatory terms against them.
“We are pained to say that we are studying in a very miserable condition... The school guard watches dirty videos and sexually harasses, abuses us,” the complaint said. “We are very scared and are in pain. Please take action or else we will be forced to take some desperate measures.”
Two teachers named in the complaint are absconding.
Deputy Commissioner Anjaneyulu Dodde told The Sunday Express that he had formed a team led by an Indian Administrative Services officer to conduct an inquiry. “The findings were shocking,” Anjaneyulu said. “We immediately lodged a complaint and an FIR was registered.”
The teachers used to sexually abuse the students by touching them inappropriately under the guise of medical check up, Arvind Kumar, the in charge of the police station investigating the case, told the newspaper.
The four men in the case have been booked under sections 354A (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354B (any man who assaults or uses criminal force to any woman) and 354D (punishment for stalking) of the Indian Penal Code.
They have also been booked under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, reported The Times of India.
Following the incident, the Welfare Department has removed male teachers from two other residential schools in the district, reported The Sunday Express.
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