YADGIR, KALABURAGI : A 17-year-old girl studying in Class 9 of a residential school in Shahapur taluk of Yadgir district, delivered a baby boy in the washroom of the hostel on Wednesday. The residential school is run by the social welfare department.
Executive Director of Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society Kantharaju suspended two teachers — Narasimha Murthy, the Science teacher, and Sridhar, the physical education teacher, with immediate effect.
The suspension order stated that the girl’s attendance was only 10 per cent in Class 9, and it was the duty of Narasimha Murthy, as class teacher, to report on her attendance, and Sridhar to report on her physical condition to the principal.
As they failed to perform their duties, based on a report by the deputy director of the social welfare department, Murthy and Sridhar have been kept under suspension, the order said.
Police registered an FIR based on a complaint by District Child Protection Officer Nirmala against five persons, including an unknown accused (A1), Geeta Salimani, the warden of the school hostel (A2), school principal Basamma (A3), staff nurse Basamma Patil (A4) and Sharanabasavva for not informing officials about a Class 9 student becoming pregnant.
According to the complainant, the girl was not giving any information about A1.
Child rights panel to act
Instead, all she said was that when she went to the washroom, she developed stomach pain and delivered a baby.
Mother and baby were admitted to hospital and are fine, it is said.
Karnataka State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights member Shashidhar Kosambe, who is also in charge of Yadgir district, said the Commission would register suo motu cases against those concerned from the social welfare department, to take action against the concerned. Kosambe said he would be visiting Shahapur shortly to meet the girl and her parents.