A class 9 student of a private school in Bihar’s Saran district alleged on Friday she was raped by 18 persons including her schoolmates, two teachers and the principal over the last eight months. She said she did not report the abuse fearing society would ostracize her.
The girl approached police superintendent Har Kishore Rai with the complaint on Friday morning. Police later arrested Uday Kumar alias Mukund Singh, the principal of the private school in Saran’s Parsagarh village, teacher Balaji and two minor students of the school. The girl was sent to a local hospital for a medical check-up and police are searching for the other accused.
According to the first information report registered by the police, the girl was gang-raped by three schoolmates in the school lavatory in December 2017. The accused also shot a video of the rape and threatened to make the video public if she reported the matter to anyone at school or home.
However, a few days later, the alleged rapists shared the video with other school friends, the FIR said. Gradually it reached a few teachers and the principal, and she was blackmailed for sex, the girl alleged.
“The poor girl apprehending stigma and the video going viral in public went on succumbing to the carnal desires of other boys and two teachers in possession of the video,” police superintendent Rai said.
Losing all hope, the girl eventually approached the principal for help. However, Rai said, instead of approaching the police the principal cautioned her to keep silent as it would bring disrepute to her and the school. Worse, according to the SP, the principal called her one day after school and raped her in his chamber.
“The victim has named in all 18 persons as her perpetrators in the FIR registered with the women’s police station,” the SP said. ‘We have formed a team led by Chapra Sadar DSP to probe the case and arrest all the culprits,” he added.
Crime against women has been on the rise in Bihar. According to government records, 127 minors and women were subjected to rape in the first three months of 2018. The figures have almost doubled by June end.