dehradun

Updated: Oct 18, 2018 21:13 IST

A private school in Dehradun allegedly denied admission to a 16-year-old girl because she was gang-raped in a boarding school recently, the rape survivor’s lawyer has said, demanding cancellation of the school’s CBSE affiliation.

Advocate Aruna Negi Chauhan wrote a letter on behalf of the minor’s parents to the chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and state education minister Arvind Pandey, urging them to take “strict legal action” against the school.

“Her parents tried to get her admission into many private schools of the city, but they all refused. While the other schools did not give the parents any explanation, one private school categorically told them that they cannot give admission to her as she is a rape victim,” Chauhan said.

The girl had been allegedly gang raped by four students of her former boarding school on August 14. Although she had informed school authorities, they tried to hush it up. The matter came to light in September, when the girl thought she was pregnant and informed her elder sister, following which Dehradun’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nivedita Kukreti was tipped off.

The four boys were taken into custody and the boarding school’s director, principal, administration officer, his wife and hostel caretaker were also arrested for alleged destruction of evidence and trying to hush up the matter. Police later confirmed that the girl was not pregnant.

The CBSE had discontinued the school’s affiliation as its response to a show cause notice was “evasive and insensitive”, according to reports.

Advocate Chauhan has written to senior superintendent of Uttarakhand police as well, demanding an investigation into how the girl’s identity was revealed.

“The biggest question is that how did the school get to know the child was a rape victim? By law, her identity has to be protected. We want the police to investigate who is behind this,” she said.

The school authorities were not immediately available for the comment.

Chauhan also demanded the cancellation of the school’s affiliation by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

However, regional officer of CBSE Ranveer Singh said he has not received any such letter.

“It is the school’s prerogative to give admission or not. There are many factors which influence a school’s decision. It is not right on the parts of parents and the lawyer to make such allegations,” Singh said.

Chauhan said the “defeated” parents of the girl wanted to shift her out of Dehradun from the next academic session, but were “left with no choice” and got her admitted to a school in a different state.

Despite efforts, the parents of the rape survivor could not be contacted immediately.