This story is from September 19, 2018

Dehradun school covers up gang rape of minor by seniors, asks her to abort

Dehradun school covers up gang rape of minor by seniors, asks her to abort
Picture used for representational purpose only.
The headline of this story has been changed. It mentioned 'Doon school' which is incorrect. This was an inadvertent error which has been corrected. Our apologies. The school mentioned in the story has no connection with The Doon School.
DEHRADUN: Two days after the gang rape of a class 10 girl by four other students at a boarding school in Dehradun came to light, several other murky elements connected to the case have come to light.
Police investigation has revealed just how brazenly the school management, including the principal and the school director, tried to cover up the matter, in addition to the fact that the girl was pregnant.
The principal and the school director were among five school officials arrested on Monday for trying to destroy evidence. Four of the students who were accused of raping the 16-year-old last month were also arrested and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board. The students were taken to a juvenile home in Haridwar on Tuesday.
Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti told TOI, “According to the initial findings and the allegations made by the girl, we have arrested all those who have been involved in the crime in one way or the other. The medical examination of the girl has also been conducted.”
A probe into the case has thrown up startling details like how the school’s top officials, desperate to keep the incident under wraps, administered home remedies believed to induce miscarriage to the girl.
When none of the medications seemed to work, she was quietly taken to a nursing home in Dehradun on Saturday by school officials to get her pregnancy terminated.
A source privy to the investigation said, “Two of the school officials posed as the girl’s parents to avoid suspicion. They also insisted that the doctor give her some
abortion pills as a quick measure. The doctor, however, said that an ultrasound was required to confirm the pregnancy. At this, the officials made some excuse about coming for the ultrasound the next day and left.”
Soon after the visit to the nursing home, Dehradun police was tipped off by a source about the incident. A team of the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (USCPCR) led by chairperson Usha Negi visited the school on Sunday and recorded the girl’s statement.
Negi said, “The girl told us that she was gang-raped last month by four boys who are students of class 12 in the same school. She confided about the incident and her pregnancy to her sister who also studies in the same institute. It is shocking that the school management tried to hush up the matter instead of providing counselling to the survivor and informing police.”
The commission informed police of its findings, which then registered an FIR at Sahaspur police station following which nine people were arrested.
The incident has shocked the city, which is known for its top schools, many of them residential ones. The case prompted the Uttarakhand education department to announce on Tuesday that it would cancel the licence and no-objection certificate (NOC) issued to the school for covering up such a heinous crime.
SB Joshi, chief education officer (Dehradun), said that he visited the school on Tuesday and found negligence on part of the administration after which he has decided to send his recommendation to the department to cancel the NOC issued to the school.
"We found that the school has flouted several norms and there is no security for students. There were no CCTVs or security guards,” said Joshi, adding that once the school loses its NOC, it would not be allowed to function and the education department would facilitate admission of over 300 of its students in other private schools in the city.
CBSE regional officer Ranvir Singh said that a show-cause notice was issued to the school to explain its actions but it failed to provide a satisfactory reply. "We have forwarded our recommendation to the head office asking them to cancel the affiliation,” he said.
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