CUTTACK: The case of alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old student by a labourer inside the boys hostel of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) at Mundali has been taken up by the district child welfare committee (CWC), which has started its probe into the incident.
The CWC chairman Pramod Acharya on Saturday said the victim along with his parents will soon be presented before the panel for recording his statement. The victim will also be facilitated with counselling and other necessary measures to overcome the trauma, he added.
Expressing severe displeasure over the conduct of the principal in such a heinous crime, Acharya said he will be summoned to appear before the CWC to clarify why he did not intimate the matter and file the FIR on behalf of the victim.
“It is a serious matter and we will take it forward. A thorough probe will be conducted to ascertain under which circumstance the labourers, who had come from outside, were accommodated in the boys hostel of the JNV. Necessary legal action would be initiated against all the persons responsible for the unfortunate incident,” said Acharya.
The victim had gone to the toilet at about 9.30 pm on April 10 night when one of the labourers who was standing near the gate came inside, locked the gate and sexually assaulted him.
The boy had informed his parents who filed a complaint with Baranga police the next day. The accused labourer, who along with others had been engaged by the principal for colouring the office and buildings of JNV, had been arrested on April 12. However, the incident had been hushed up and came to light on Friday after a local social activist Saroj Kumar Sahu submitted a petition to the commissioner of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) alleging gross misconduct of the school authorities in the sensitive issue.