‘Predator’ Principal

Skeletons are tumbling out of the cupboard of the Principal of a government senior secondary school in Jind. He was arrested on November 4 after being booked under the stringent POCSO Act on the charge of sexually assaulting girl students. This happened after he was found guilty on several counts by the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Committee constituted by the Jind Deputy Commissioner to probe the allegations against him. Earlier, he was suspended following an inquiry by the District Education Officer.

Even as the law is taking its course, and rightly so, the emerging details of the case paint a disturbing picture. That the victimised girls first wrote a letter to the National Commission for Women, which set the ball rolling, begs a salient question: did their grievances go unheard at the local level? Circumstantial evidence is incriminating too, pointing to some staff members facilitating the transgressions and being hand in glove with the accused. Pertinently, nobody else is under the law enforcement scanner yet. It has also come to the fore that the windows of the Principal’s room were filmed black and the CCTV camera did not cover his chair. Moreover, the CCTV access control system was installed in his own room.

What is most appalling is that the Education Department seems to have given the accused a long rope, exposing innocent girls to a potential predator. He was accused of misdemeanours during his earlier postings too. Yet, he was not watched over. The department was again caught napping as it turns out that the Principal, along with one male and some female teachers, took 50 girl students on a three-day trip to Amritsar recently and pressured them not to speak out about the case. A thorough investigation is called for.