Meritorious school principal booked

SANGRUR: Principal of a meritorious school in the district was on Saturday booked for sexual harassment of two Dalit girl students, a day after an administrative panel indicted him in the case.

Principal Choudhary Deepak Dogra of the school at Ghabdan was also removed from his post.

“Acting on the directions of deputy commissioner (DC), police have registered case against the school principal under Section 354-A of the IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 (POSCO),” said senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu.

Police said raids are being conducted to arrest the accused who is on the run. “We raided his residence but found him missing. He will be nabbed soon,” said sadar police station SHO Davinder Singh.

On November 8, two Class-12 (non-medical) students had alleged that principal Dogra called them at his residence on November 1 evening and tried to molest them. On November 9, DC Amar Partap Singh Virk formed a panel, headed by additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Upkar Singh, to look into the case.

The panel gave its report on Friday, indicting the principal for sexual harassment of the two girls. The report said, “Principal Dogra called the girls to his house when he was alone. When they reached his place, he led them to his bedroom. Undoubtedly, he behaved immorally and sexually harassed the girls.” HTC