Protest held at Beas seeking action against school authorities
DAY-LONG BLOCKADE DC forms three-member probe panel, police set up SIT; Beas town observes ‘bandh’
AMRITSAR: Hundreds of people, mostly parents of students, held a demonstration against the authorities of a private school at Beas, 40km from Amritsar, on Monday against the rape of a Class 2 girl by a Class 10 student on Friday.
Demanding a criminal case against the school authorities, the protesters held a blockade outside the school on National Highway-1 that connects Amritsar with Delhi, leading to a traffic jam. Police diverted the traffic through link roads in the area.
Beas town also observed bandh to express solidarity with the protesters.
“The 8-year-old girl complained of pain in the stomach and private parts. She told her mother what the accused boy did to her, who is also a minor. The mother lodged a complaint at the Beas police station and a case was registered under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC and Section 8 of the POCSO Act,” a police official said. The accused was arrested the same day and produced in a court before being sent to a juvenile home. The victim’s family, however, have left their house for an undisclosed location, said residents.
The rape took place at 8am when the victim girl was alone in the classroom. Even as CCTV cameras are installed in the classroom and on all key points across the campus, neither police nor the school produced the CCTV footages citing that the accused switched off the camera of the classroom before committing the crime. The school authorities did not meet protesters’ demand to show footages of other cameras.
The police arranged meeting of the protesters with school director, but it remained inconclusive even as parents grilled him in the presence of the media.
The blockade of the highway was lifted at around 5pm after Amritsar-rural SSP Vikramjit Duggal assured the protesters to take action against school authorities if they were found negligent in any respect.
“A special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted . Two weeks have been given to the SIT to finish the probe. The requisite action will be taken as the facts come to the fore,” said Duggal.
DC Shivdular Singh Dhillon has constituted a three-member committee to probe the role of the school. “The probe panel will give its report in 15 days and bring out if any kind of negligence on part of the school authorities.”