Headmaster arrested for ‘raping’ Class-X girl student in Odisha

Malkangiri: Headmaster of a tribal residential school (Sevashram) has been arrested in Odisha’s Malkangiri district for allegedly raping a Class X student, who had committed suicide on Friday. police said today.

The accused headmaster, Biswajit Sarkar of Sikhapali Residential School in the district, was arrested after some other girl students lodged police complaint alleging sexual harassment, they said.

Sarkar was arrested on the charge of abetment to suicide, a top police officer said.

“During the course of investigation, we got to know that school headmaster Biswajit Sarkar had sexually assaulted the victim and some other girls in the school. Besides, we have seized a note book of the deceased which mentions he (Biswajit Sarkar) had sexually harassed the girl students,” said Malkangiri SP Jagmohan Meena.

The Class-X student, who was found lying in a pool of blood in the computer lab on the school premises, had written about the sexual torture in her note book, police added.

However, the family members of the deceased alleged that Bandana was killed inside the hostel.

Also Read: Girl found dead in pool of blood in school hostel, family smells foul play

Meanwhile, the Sadar police has begun further investigation into the incident.

The District Collector has placed five staff of the school including the accused headmaster under suspension.

Two teachers, one warden and one night watchman were suspended with immediate effect, sources added.

The Sevashram has classes from I to VII and the education department school has classes from VIII to IX and both the schools function from the same building.

Since 2015, there has been a spate of such pregnancies among tribal girls residing in school hostels across the state.

In February 2015, a Class VI girl student in a Koraput-based residential school, delivered a baby in the school hostel while in August last year, a 15-year-old girl student of a government girls high school in Ganjam gave birth to a stillborn in the classroom.

In 2015 more than 20 cases of teen pregnancies were reported from tribal schools across the state.