NHRC notice to Bihar Govt. over thrashing of 34 girls of KGBV in Supaul

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC), India, has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports that on October 6, 2018, at least 34 girl students of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) in Supaul district of Bihar were brutally beaten up by some local youth when they opposed  their routine sexual advances and lewd comments. Their tormentors included students of the adjacent Middle School and their parents. The mob had reportedly a free run vandalising the school which is exclusively for the girls belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, OBC and minority communities.

The NHRC has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Bihar, calling for a detailed report in the matter including status of medical treatment of the injured students, measures taken to step up security at the residential schools and action taken against the unruly group of people named in the complaint, according to an NHRC release .

While issuing the notices, the Commission has also observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, amount to violation of human rights of the victim girls. Going by the media reports, it is apparent from the sequence of incident that there is serious security lapse at the girls’ school where the miscreants entered at their free will, committed the brutal act and fled from the spot. The administration should have taken timely action when the issue was raised by the girl students regarding routine sexual advances by the local youth. The girls have been beaten up when they were in the custody of a government run hostel school, it said. The incident has raised issue of safety of the girl students studying in the state run hostel schools.

As per the media reports carried on October 8, 2018, the District Magistrate, Supaul, has reportedly narrated the sequence of events that some of the girls confronted a few local youth and some Middle School students for writing vulgar messages on the school’s wall. Both KGBV and the Middle School are on the same campus with separate buildings but a common playground. The youth sexually harassed the girl students following which the girls beat them up. Later in the evening, the boys called their parents and got the girls beaten up with sticks and rods.

It is mentioned in the news reports that the injured girl students were first taken to primary health centre but they were so badly injured that two of them had to be taken to Supaul Sadar Hospital, while 32 other students of Class VI to VIII were sent to Triveniganj Referral Hospital. The warden alerted the security guard and called up the local administration but the miscreants were able to flee from the spot.

SP, Supaul, has reportedly stated that KGBV authorities have named nine people in their complaint and two of them have been arrested. Four persons have been detained for interrogation and others are absconding. The State Education Minister has reportedly assured that the Education Department will take steps to ensure the safety of the girls in the school especially the residential ones.