Girls made to strip for menstruation check in Maharashtra school; principal among 8 booked

Police have booked eight persons, including the principal and four teachers of a private school in Thane, Maharashtra, for allegedly forcing girl students to strip during a menstruation check. The incident sparked protests from enraged parents demanding strict action.

Thane: Girl students of classes 5 to 10 at a private school in Maharashtra’s Thane district were made to strip to check if they were menstruating, prompting police to register a case against eight persons, including the principal and four teachers, officials said.

The incident occurred at the RS Damani school in Shahapur area on Tuesday after bloodstains were found in its toilet, the officials said on Wednesday. It sparked outrage among the girls’ parents, who protested on the school premises on Wednesday and sought action against the management and teachers involved in the episode.

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As per the complaint lodged by a parent of one of the students, the girls, studying in classes 5 to 10, were called to the school’s convention hall and shown photos of blood stains in the toilet and floor by screening them through a projector. The students were asked if any of them were going through the menstrual cycle.

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, the complaint said. Based on the complaint, a case was registered against the school principal, four teachers, the attendant, and two trustees, the police said.

When parents learnt about the girls being subjected to this kind of a check, they gathered at the school and demanded action against the teachers involved, Additional Superintendent of Police (Thane rural) Rahul Zalte said. “The situation turned tense for a while with the irate parents demanding action,” he said. The police were probing the entire incident, the official said.

The case was registered against the eight persons 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 said. None of them has been arrested so far, senior inspector Mukesh Dhage of the Shahapur police station said.