MUZAFFARNAGAR: The woman principal of a residential school in Muzaffarnagar district was suspended after she allegedly forced 70 students to strip to check if any of them were menstruating, after blood was found in one of the bathrooms on Thursday.
According to a complaint filed by the parents of the victims, the students of Kasturba Gandhi Residential School at Digri village were forced to strip by the principal on Thursday. The principal allegedly threatened the students of dire consequences if they disobeyed her command.
“There was no one around. We were called downstairs (from the hostel). Madam made us take off our clothes saying she will beat us if we did not.
We are kids, what could we do? She would have beaten us if we did not obey her,” one of the students said. The principal, however, denied the allegations.
“No one asked them to remove clothes. All this is a conspiracy by the staff because they do not want me to stay here. I had been asked to check whether the staff were performing their duties. I am strict, that is why they hate me,” she said.
State cabinet minister Shrikant Sharma condemned the horrendous incident and said a probe has been initiated by the authorities concerned. Meanwhile, 35 out of the total 65 students of the school left after the reports of harassment by the principal surfaced.
The government-run Kasturba Gandhi Residential School is part of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme aimed at providing upper primary level education for dropout girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities.