Chhattisgarh: Residential school staff suspended for delayed reporting of rape case

Two women staffers of a residential school's hostel have been suspended for allegedly informing the police late about the rape of a minor girl.

Sukma: Two women staffers of a residential school‘s hostel in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh have been suspended for allegedly informing the police late about the rape of a minor girl in the hostel, officials said on Wednesday.

The Class 1 student was allegedly raped by an unidentified person on the night of July 22 when she was in the hostel of a ‘porta cabin’ school within the limits of the Errabor police station area, police said.
However, the matter was reported to the police on July 24, they said.

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“The hostel’s superintendent and assistant superintendent, both women, have been suspended for allegedly delaying reporting the matter to police,” a district administration official told PTI.

An eight-member team headed by Sukma Additional Superintendent of Police Gaurav Mandal constituted to probe the matter has been trying to identify the accused, he said.

Porta cabins are pre-fabricated structure residential schools set up in Left Wing Extremism-affected villages of the state’s Bastar division, which includes the tribal-dominated Sukma district.

Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran G Chavan on Tuesday said the victim, aged 6-7 years, informed about the incident to her parents on July 23, following which it was reported to the hostel superintendent.

After a police complaint was filed the next day, a case was registered under sections 376 AB (rape on a woman under 12 years of age), 456 (house trespass), 363 (kidnapping) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh slammed the ruling Congress over the incident and claimed the law and order situation has collapsed in the state.

The BJP has also constituted a probe team of the party leaders, headed by its MLA Ranjana Sahu, which has been asked to visit the residential school in Sukma and submit a report.

“If this government and its officials are not able to ensure the safety of girls even in educational and residential ashrams-hostels of the state, then such a shameless and incompetent government has no moral right to remain in power even for a moment,” Sahu said in a statement.

She also targeted the hostel superintendent for allegedly trying to hush up the crime.

Around 5,000 incidents of rape have been reported in the state during the tenure of the Bhupesh Baghel government, Sahu claimed, adding all claims of the government on women’s safety have proved to be hollow.