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Hostel superintendent arrested for sexually assaulting minor girls in Chhattisgarh
The matter came to light a few days ago when a couple of girl students managed to inform their parents using a borrowed mobile phone when they stepped out of the hostel for some work
A superintendent of a private girls’ hostel in Chhattisgarh’s Gariyaband district was arrested on Tuesday over allegations of sexual assault and mental harassment, police said.
The superintendent of the hostel was arrested while a warden faces inquiries as complaints against them are being verified, said police.
Additional superintendent of police (ASP), Gariyaband, DS Patel said, “The minor girl alleged that the accused was ogling when she was changing her clothes and also touched her inappropriately”.
The matter came to light a few days ago when a couple of girl students managed to inform their parents using a borrowed mobile phone when they stepped out of the hostel for some work.
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Besides allegations of sexual harassment the girls at the residential hostel, operating under an NGO in Chhura region which accommodates around 32 female students from classes 1-12 also accused the woman warden of allowing outsiders who engaged in similar harassment.
“The girls complained that the warden’s friends would enter the premises casually and would try to befriend them,” police said.
Patel further told media persons that the girls alleged that the superintendent and the warden subjected them to obscene talks and sexual harassment and threatened the girls to not disclose about the incidents to outsiders.
“The girls said that they were threatened with expulsion by the warden and the superintendent if they tried to talk about the incidents”, police said.
The police said that they are investigating the legal documents pertaining to the hostel.
The department of women and child welfare has stepped in to ensure a thorough inquiry into the matter.
The Chhattisgarh government’s 2013 rule mandates the deployment of only female staff members in girls’ residential schools and hostels, from senior to junior positions, however, in Gariyaband, the hostel was being supervised by a male.
