RANCHI: In light of increasing incidents of teachers and male school staff sexually abusing girls studying in residential schools, the Dumka district administration has taken a decision to replace all male staff in the three schools operated by the Welfare Department in Dumka.
As of now, male teachers have already been replaced with female teachers.
Steps are being taken to replace all other male clerical staff, cooks, and security guards with female ones, District Welfare Officer in Dumka Sanjay Kacchap said.
A complaint box is also going to be installed in each of the residential girls’ schools where they can drop in their complaints without fear. “The keys to the complaint box will be kept at the district headquarters so that it could be accessed only by officials from time to time. These boxes will be opened weekly or fortnightly so that they can act immediately if any complaint has been received from the girls,” he said.
The officer added that the complaint box will be kept out of the range of CCTV cameras in schools.
Recently, a principal and a security guard of a government residential girls’ school in Dumka were arrested for allegedly sexually harassing students.
The arrest was done on Friday within 24 hours of the FIR being lodged at the Nagar Police Station in Dumka. The Deputy Commissioner on Thursday had received a letter by post which accused two male teachers, the principal and the guard of touching students inappropriately and showing them pornographic videos. The letter also alleged that the men were drinking alcohol inside the school.
A team formed to investigate the matter found the allegations made by the girls to be true following which the FIR was registered.
“Two of the accused persons have been arrested and further action will be taken on the basis of the statements recorded by them under section 164 of the IPC,” said Dumka SP Pitamnber Singh Kherwar.
The officer in charge of the Nagar Police Station said that an FIR has been registered under Sections 354-A (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354-B (any man who assaults or uses criminal force to any woman) 354-D (punishment for stalking) of the Indian Penal Code along with Sections 8 (sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.