No school ready to take rape survivor: Parents

Dehradun, October 19

Parents of a Class X student, who was gang-raped at a boarding school here, have filed a police complaint, alleging that schools in the city are denying her admission on the ground that she will spoil the atmosphere on the campus, the police said on Friday.

As per the complaint, the girl’s parents approached a couple of schools, but she was denied admission, Senior Superintendent of Police Nivedita Kukreti said. One of the schools allegedly denied her admission on the ground that enrolling her would spoil the atmosphere.

“We are looking into the complaint. We will send a team to the school concerned to take its version on Monday as it is closed these days. Meanwhile, we are also looking for  legal action to be taken in a case like this,” Kukreti said. “Appropriate action will be taken against the school if the charges against it are found to be true,” she added.

The girl’s parents are now contemplating sending her to a school which is outside Dehradun.

Former chairman of the Uttarakhand Commission for Protection of Child Rights Yogendra Khanduri termed the treatment meted out to the girl as “unfortunate”. “How can they deny admission to the child? If the girl has merit, there is no reason they should refuse to take her in,” he said. “They should give her admission even on humanitarian grounds as she is a rape survivor who has suffered trauma,” he said.

The girl was gang-raped by fellow students at a school in Sahaspur here on August 14 this year. However, the matter was kept under wraps by the school authorities and it came to light only after a month on September 17.— PTI