Jind principal 'guilty' of sexual abuse: Panel report

Tribune News Service

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, November 13

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment Committee constituted by the Jind Deputy Commissioner to probe charges against the principal, arrested for sexual abuse of several girl students of a government senior secondary school, has found him guilty in several incidents, official sources have said.

A member of the committee told The Tribune that the committee had submitted its report to the authorities.

This comes as the Jind police approached the family of the girl who had died by suicide at her house in September this year. The victim was a student of Class XI at the school. A letter purportedly written by some victims on August 31 had led to the investigation against the principal.

Suicide victim’s kin refuse to give statement

• Kin of a suicide victim, who studied in Jind school where principal allegedly abused girls, have refused to give statement
• A police official visited the girl’s house, but the family denied seeing any signs of pressure or depression before her death
• Police may initiate legal action if the family comes out with a statement about her death later, says the SP

Sources said the girl, who belonged to a weaker section of the society, hanged herself in a room on the first floor of her house on September 30 after returning from school. The family claimed they were taken aback and cremated the body. An official who visited the victim’s residence after the incident revealed her mother denied noticing any pressure on her or signs of depression on days preceding her death. SP Sumit Kumar said a police team visited the girl’s family following the principal’s arrest. “But the family refused to give statement. The police may initiate legal action if they come out with a statement about her death later,” the SP said, adding while there were rumours of three incidents of suicide by girl students, the police had not come across any such case.

“Some of the girls had testified before the magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The police have enough evidence to file a challan against the suspect in court. Our investigation is going on,” the SP maintained.

The principal was arrested on November 4 after being booked under Sections 8 (sexual assault), 10 (aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and 354, 341 and 342 of the IPC. He is currently in judicial custody. The police have seized his mobile phone and sent it for forensic examination.

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