A girl from Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district who was raped by two men on her way to school has been barred by her school principal from attending classes.

While the two men have been arrested for the sexual assault, Azamgarh district magistrate has ordered a probe into the decision of the school.

What Happened?

Last week, two men in an SUV abducted the girl while she was on her way to school.

On the complaint of the girl’s father, an FIR was registered under IPC sections 376-D (gangrape), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the two accused, Sikandar and Rishi Kapoor. While Sikandar works as a driver, Kapoor runs a mobile phone shop. The SUV has been seized.

After sexually assaulting the girl, the men left her at a secluded place. She somehow managed to reach a country-made liquor shop and raise an alarm.

The local village head said, “The girl’s clothes were blood-soaked and she was taken to her school. There, instead of informing the police, the principal called her parents and said he was striking her name from the school records.”

However, the school principal, denying all the allegations, claimed that he had asked the girl to stay at home only for a few days until the issue is resolved. He further said that he did not have state government recognition needed to run a school. It was a private coaching centre with minimal infrastructure, he claimed.

According to SDM Priyanka, the principal denied removing any student from the school. However, he could not provide an attendance register. “I will visit the school on Tuesday. We have given the principal an ultimatum to produce the register and all relevant documents. The claim that it is just a coaching centre and not a school is part of the investigation,” The Indian Express quoted her as saying.

Azamgarh DM Nagendra Prasad Singh said that no school has the right to ask a student to not attend classes for such a reason. Along with providing the girl with proper support, the SDM has been directed to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

“If the allegations against the school are true then stern action will be taken against them. I assure that education of the girl will not be affected. We will talk to her parents and the girl also. As far as the claim by the principal that he is running just a coaching centre, several schools are making similar claims after we recently started a campaign to identify and shut schools running without proper permission. So far, we have shut 16-17 such schools in the last three months and slapped fines of more than Rs 1 lakh. It is very possible that the principal is lying,” SP Azamgarh Triveni Singh said.

Also Read: Rajasthan: 19-Yr-Old Pregnant Woman Gang-Raped, Foetus Dies