CCTV footage shows principal’s act unusual but not objectionable: Police

LUCKNOW : The activities of National Inter College principal Uma Shankar Singh during his interaction with four Class 11 girls were allegedly found unusual but not objectionable in the footage of close circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in his room, said police.

The police scanned the CCTV visuals and saved around nine hours of the footage during initial investigation to analyse it further after recording the statements of the principal and the girls, who had accused Singh of sexual harassment.

Father of one of the girls had lodged an FIR with Hazratganj police station under IPC section 354 A (for physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures and making sexually coloured remark); and section 506 (for criminal intimidation) on Tuesday.

Sub-inspector (SI) Vinod Sonker, who is investigating officer of the case said the principal’s activities were found a little unusual but nothing seemed to be objectionable. He said the footage shows that the four girls entered the principal’s room in the presence of two other teachers who were busy arranging board examination answer sheets.

“The principal offered chairs to the girls and then gave them some eatables. Thereafter, he also offered them water and was over friendly,” said Sonker and added, “The principal was also seen giving them a paper to write down their mobile numbers”.

The sub-inspector said it is yet to be confirmed that what conversation was going on between the principal and the girls as the footage did not have audio. He said the statements of the girls, the principal and two other teachers seen in the visual would be recorded to know the details of conversation before jumping to any conclusion in the case.

He said the girls’ family members were, contacted on Thursday to record their statements before the judicial magistrate as it is a sensitive case. He said the family members had stated that the girls would be available on Friday to get their statements recorded. He said the statement of the principal and other teachers would be recorded thereafter.

Earlier, a group of girls along with their family members had levelled charges of sexual harassment against the principal and staged protest on the college premises on Tuesday. They had accused the principal of using abusive language and also threatening to fail them in examination when they had gone to the college to collect their report cards on Monday. However, the principal denied allegations while stating it to be a conspiracy of some senior teachers to remove him from the post.