A Physical Training Instructor and a lab attendant at a Haryana government high school in Hisar’s Adampur were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly sexually harassing several girls, aged between 12-14 years. One of the accused, a computer teacher, is on the run.
A police team on Wednesday visited the school following a complaint by the Child Protection Officer in writing two days ago and recorded the statement of 24 students, including a few cases of corporal punishment.
A case has been registered at Adampur police station in this regard under sections of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The number of girls sexually harassed is more than a dozen.
The matter pertaining to mass sexual harassment of the girls came to light when Child Protection Officer Sunita Yadav visited the school in Bhana village on Monday following a slew of complaints in this regard a day earlier.
‘Students share ordeal’
“Since we did not expect the students to be forthcoming with the complaints of sexual harassment, our team began by conducting an activity on good and bad touch. As expected, the students gradually opened up and shared their ordeal,” Ms. Yadav told The Hindu over phone.
The girls, mostly from Class VII-X, naming three teachers told the CPO that the trio would grope them and sexually harass them. “The girls were told to stay back for extra classes for almost a year without any permission from the authorities and harassed. Since there was no female teacher in the school for the past 14 years, the girls were uncomfortable sharing their ordeal. Though they complained to the headmaster, but it was ignored. The accused belong to the same village,” said Ms. Yadav.
She added the victims were threatened with failure in the exams and that their family members would be killed. The staff also kicked and abused the students and smoked inside the school.
The police found that the closed-circuit television cameras were missing at the strategically important locations.
The accused have been identified as Dharampal and Vishnu.
