INDIA
Bangalore Mirror
POCSO case slapped against management of leading girls’ school over ‘sexual assault’
By Prakruti PK, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Jan 12, 2015
In what may be described as an appalling first for a prestigious all-girls’ private school located in the heart of the city, the Central division police have registered a complaint under various sections of the POCSO Act along with section 354 (a) of the IPC against three members of the school management for allegedly manhandling and sexually assaulting students who were staging a protest on the school’s premises, on Thursday morning. The protest was against the installation of a new principal.
Highly-placed police sources confirmed that a former teacher and member of the Church of South India, Karnataka Central Diocese, approached the Cubbon Park police on Saturday and filed an FIR against three members of the school management claiming they used foul language to abuse the girls, reportedly threatened to hurt them, and allegedly sexually assaulted them in a bid to get the protestors to disperse and return to their classrooms.
A senior police officer told Mirror, “We received a letter from the school on Wednesday saying they were anticipating some sort of trouble due to the announcement that the temporary principal was being replaced by a new one. They requested us to be present near the school the next morning, and accordingly, we reached the premises by 7.30 am on Thursday, but were asked to stay outside.” A large number of students belonging to classes VIII, IX, X, and XI were reportedly seated on the ground just inside the school entrance, and some were holding up banners declaring their solidarity with the outgoing principal.
The fracas is thought to have unfolded between 9.15 and 9.45 am, when the new principal arrived flanked by two men – purportedly both members of management – but was not ‘allowed’ to enter the premises by the girls.
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