BHOPAL: Authorities have ordered a probe after at least two Class XI girl students of a Higher Secondary school in Lafra village of tribal-dominated Mandla district complained that somebody urinated in their water bottles which they had left behind in their classrooms when they went to attend English classes.
According to the two girls, the incident happened on Tuesday. They said they went out of their classroom to attend English classes in another room leaving their water bottles behind. When they returned and picked up the bottles to drink water a foul smell similar to that of urine emanated from the bottles.
They added, "One of our friends even drank water from the bottle, but spat it out as soon as her tongue felt the smell accompanied by the bitterness typical of urine. We immediately emptied the bottles and informed the teachers. The teachers asked us --including the five boy students who were present in the classroom when we left for English class --to bring our parents the next day."
The parents, accompanied by the villagers, landed at the school the next day. Senior officials including assistant commissioner (tribal welfare) Vijay Tekam and Naib Tehsildar Sakshi Shukla had also arrived upon hearing about the incident.
The father of one of the girls said his daughter and her friends told him that it was perhaps the boys who urinated in their water bottles. "We demand stern action against the culprits," he told the journalists.
A local resident Prashant Tiwari claimed that this wasn’t the first incident in the school, as less than six months back, liquor bottles were found in the school bags of some students.
"Even the teachers are complacent and behave irresponsibly, we demand that the entire staff of the school be replaced with new staff," he demanded.
According to the assistant commissioner (tribal affairs) Vijay Tekam and the nayab tehsildar Sakshi Shukla, "The matter has come to our knowledge, which is why we came to the school and held discussions with the staff, parents and students. Some girls have got statements recorded at the local police station and a detailed probe is underway. Once the enquiry concludes, appropriate action will be initiated against those responsible."
This latest incident which was reported from the tribal-dominated Mandla district, happened around two weeks after the three-week-old video showing a man Pravesh Shukla (said to be a BJP man) urinating on tribal labourer Dashmat Rawat in Sidhi district, had gone viral on July 4, causing national outrage.
The accused was arrested a few hours later, booked under IPC and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act provisions and sent to jail. The National Security Act (NSA) too was slapped on Shukla and illegally constructed part of his house in the village razed. Shukla's wife has filed a habeas corpus petition in the MP High Court against the slapping of NSA against her husband.