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Jind students being pressured to withdraw plaint against principal: Women’s panel chief
Over 50 female students of a government school in Jind district have accused their principal of sexual harassment; the commission said they had forwarded the complaints from a few female students of the school to the police on September 14 but action was taken only on October 30.
Girl students of a government senior secondary school in Jind, who had accused their principal of sexual harassment, are being pressured to withdraw their complaints, the chairperson of the Haryana State Commission for Women, Renu Bhatia, said during a press conference in Panchkula on Thursday.
Bhatia said, “We have received calls from the girls, informing us that they are being pressured to withdraw the complaints.”
She further said the commission has found that the principal had five different mobile phones with which he used to chat with the students and send them obscene messages from five different mobile phones.
She said, “All the victims are minors and I will be meeting them on November 14.”
“Fifty girls have approached the commission saying that they have been sexually assaulted by the principal while 10 girls had claimed that they are victims but are aware of sexual harassment of their schoolmates,” she added.
The state women commission chairperson further said that similar complaints had also been received from two other places where he was posted earlier.
‘Used to threaten to ‘fail’ students’
One of the victims told the commission in a letter that the principal used call the students to his office and inappropriately touch them.
If they resisted, he used to threaten to “fail” them, another student said. A third student had claimed the principal had told her he would complain to her parents that she does not attend school.
Role of female teacher also under the scanner
Bhatia said the students, had further claimed that a female teacher, who was purportedly close to the principal, used to act as his aide and send them to his office. “The windows of the principal’s office were covered with a thick black film,” she added.
One of the students, in her letter, told the commission that a girl student had even complained about his behaviour but ended up leaving the school.
Principal fails to turn up at the commission
The woman commission had summoned the police and education department officials to appear before her on Thursday over the delay in filing the FIR. The students had written to the National Commission for Women, the President and the governor, detailing the sexual harassment meted out by their principal. Two months passed by before the FIR was registered in the case. While the principal was placed under suspension on October 27, the FIR was registered on October 31. The case was registered under Sections 354-A (sexual harassment), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
“I am not satisfied with the way the case has been handled. The action was taken only after we called the SP. In a state that believes in Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao, why was action delayed?” said Bhatia.
She urged the DGP Haryana to take strict action in this matter.
She further said the principal had also been summoned to appear before the commission. “Instead of appearing before us, he sent his son and nephew to us. He is absconding since the case was registered,” added Bhatia.
She also appealed to the all schoolgirls of Haryana to immediately inform the women commission if they face any similar harassment.
