Class 9 girl raped by principal, two teachers, 16 students

A principal of a private school and a teacher, who were arrested for allegedly raping and blackmailing a Class 9 student here, were on Saturday produced before a POCSO court which sent them to jail for a fortnight.

Four students of the school, who were also allegedly involved in the incident, were sent to the remand home as they are juveniles.

The teenager in her complaint to the police had alleged that she was raped and blackmailed by her school principal, two teachers and 16 students for seven months.

The six were produced before the court of Additional District and Sessions judge Uday Kumar Upadhyay, who is also in-charge of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court.

The court also directed that the case of the four students be heard separately and sent to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) which would verify their age.

The girl's statement was also recorded by Judicial Magistrate Rakesh Mani Tiwary.

The principal told the court that the allegations against him were false and this was a conspiracy to frame him in the case in order to bring disrepute to him and the school.

The school is located at Parsagarh village of Saran district, about 35 kms from the district headquarters of Chhapra.

District Superintendent of Police Har Kishore Rai said an FIR was registered under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and the POCSO Act.

In her complaint, the girl alleged that she was first raped by some of the students of her school in a toilet there in December 2017.

The girl claimed that the students also recorded a video of the act and threatened her to make it viral if she reported the matter to anyone, the SP said.

When the victim complained to the school principal about the incident, he first convinced and persuaded her not to lodge a complaint as the matter would bring disrepute to her and the family and later along with two teachers raped and blackmailed her, he said.

The girl told reporters today that she could not muster courage to lodge a complaint with the police since her father was in jail for several months.

Her father was released from jail a couple of days ago and a complaint was lodged yesterday, she said.

Rai said a special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted under Deputy Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Singh, who visited the school yesterday and made the arrests.

Raids are being conducted to apprehend the other accused, he added.