Thane school principal, staff check girls' private parts over blood stains in toilet, arrested

Thane police have arrested the principal and a woman staff member of a private school for allegedly stripping girl students and checking whether they were menstruating. 

 

Police arrested the duo during the late hours of Wednesday after parents protested outside the private school in Shahapur, demanding action against the school management and staff involved in the incident. According to police, the school staff allegedly stripped the students and conducted a menstruation check after blood stains were found on the toilet floor. 

 

According to Additional Superintendent of Police (Thane rural) Rahul Zalte, a complaint was filed by the parent of an affected student after they came to know about the incident. According to the complaint filed by the parents, girls studying in classes 5 to 10 were called to the school's convention hall and photos of blood stains in the toilet were projected on the screen. They were asked whether they were going through a menstrual cycle, parents alleged in the complaint.

 

"The girls were then divided into two groups. All those who said they were menstruating were asked to give their thumb impression to the teachers. But those girls who said they were not experiencing it, were taken to the toilet one by one with a woman attendant checking their private parts," PTI reported quoting the complaint.  

 

A case has been registered against the school's principal, four teachers, the attendant and two trustees over the incident. The school authorities have been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 76 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he added.

India