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SIT submits chargesheet against Jind school principal in sexual harassment case
Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Deepti Garg, who was heading the SIT, said a ‘strong’ chargesheet was filed against the accused Jind school principal
A special investigation team (SIT) formed by Hisar additional director general of police Shrikant Jadhav on Wednesday submitted a chargesheet against sacked principal of Jind government school Kartar Singh in a local court for allegedly sexually harassing 142 girl students.
Interacting with media in Jind, Sirsa additional superintendent of police (ASP) Deepti Garg, who was heading the SIT, said a ‘strong’ chargesheet was filed against the accused principal.
“Initially, five girl students recorded their statements against the accused principal under Section 164 of the CrPC and later one more girl recorded her statement before the magistrate and the SC/ST Act was added in the first information report. All the girls studying in the particular school were provided counselling. Other teachers of the school were not involved in the case but we are still probing,” she added.
The ASP said that they had investigated the case from suicide and rape angles also but no one came forward to file a complaint.
“We will file a supplementary chargesheet if any victim or accused comes to the fore. The chargesheet was prepared after recording statements of six victim girls and other students,” she added.
An SIT member, pleading anonymity, said that statements of 400 girls, apart from six victims, were recorded and produced before the court.
“ We also held meetings with legal experts while framing the chargesheet,” the member added.
As many as 15 minor girls of a government senior secondary school in Jind had written a letter to President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, national women commission, state women commission, state education minister and many other dignitaries on August 31 which was received by state women commission on September 13. Thereafter, 45 more girls reached the women’s commission, where 15 more girls narrated the ordeal.
Later, a three-member committee was formed by the district administration and the victims’ number reached 142. The three-member committee submitted the report to the education department on November 17, and on November 28 the accused principal was dismissed from service.
However, women activists were raising serious questions about the delay in registering an FIR against the accused principal, the charge denied by SIT head Deepti Garg.
