Yet another case of rape and sexual abuse has come to light from Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh. A class 10 student accused three of her teachers and the principal of constantly raping her, against nude pictures and videos. She alleged that the principal gave her contraceptive pills regularly. As of now, police booked three teachers, except the principal of the school.
The case has also led to political turmoil in the region as Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders are trying to find their narratives in it.
What had happened?
On July 26, a woman with her husband and 16-year-old daughter reached Manikpur police station which falls under Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh. The woman alleged that her daughter has been gang-raped by teachers and the principal of the school but the police have only filed a case against one teacher.
Statement of the minor victim can be seen here:
Very painful news has come to light in Chitrakoot, a minor girl studying in class 10 was gang-raped for several months by four people including the principal and teachers of the school. pic.twitter.com/htTJMznZuZ
— The Dalit Voice (@ambedkariteIND) August 2, 2023
On July 26, the police registered an FIR (number–77/2023) at Manikpur police station against a contractual teacher, Mohammad Irashd. He was booked under charges of rape and the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offense) Act. The FIR was registered based on the minor’s statement. She named the teacher as the accused and claimed that she was forced to stay back in school for extra classes. In the name of those classes, the teacher used to touch her inappropriately and made videos of the same. Whenever she raised an alarm about the incident, she was silenced with threats of making those videos viral on social media.
The victim’s mother, however, alleged that her daughter has been gang-raped and that too for the past five months, not just by the teachers but by the principal of the school as well. They made some serious allegations against the principal.
How did the family find out?
On July 25, the minor went to attend a birthday party of a friend in the colony, where she witnessed a severe stomach ache. The family first assumed it was menstrual pain, however, when the pain intensified, they took her to the hospital.
After examining her, the doctors told the parents that, the minor had taken contraceptive pills. As she had taken it multiple times, her uterus had swollen.
After this, the minor told everything to her parents.
The victim told them, “In school, the teacher used to stop me sometimes for finishing projects, sometimes on the pretext of extra classes. This happened about 5 months ago. The name of the teacher is Irshad. He started doing this every day. When the class was completely empty, he used to misbehave with me. He also made a video while doing the same”.
Gangrape and 4 accused
Although at first, the victim named Irshad in the FIR, she later disclosed in front of the media that she had been raped by three other men from the school. Two of them were teachers, and one was the principal.
The accused have been identified as Moin, Aditya, and principal Rakesh Pratap Singh.
She said, “For the past 4-5 months, Irshad and Moin, Aditya and Principal Sir kept on doing wrong things with me. They used to threaten me saying they can get my name cut from the school if I protested. Fearing this, I did not tell my family about this before.”
Principal used to give contraceptives
The minor said, “After doing wrong with me, he used to tell me to go out from the back gate because there was not much activity on that side. Fearing that I might become pregnant, the principal used to take me to Manikpur CHC and prescribed contraceptive pills. He used to feed me the tablets regularly”.
“My health deteriorated due to taking the pills. I started having pain in my stomach. Then suddenly the pain increased, and I could not control it. I told the whole thing to my mother. Knowing the truth, my parents took me to the hospital. Here, the doctors checked me. Several tests were done.”
Family alleges police inaction
The minor’s mother told the media, “On the night of July 25, we went to the police station. My family stayed there for 2 hours. When we raised an alarm, my daughter’s statement was taken. After taking the statement, the sub-inspector said to come tomorrow morning. They said this because my daughter named Rakesh Singh as accused with Irshad.”
“In the morning of July 26, we again reached the police station. We saw that the block chief Arvind Mishra was already present there. He is a close associate of the principal. On his request, the inspector reversed my daughter’s statement. He was repeatedly saying that the teacher who did wrong to the girl child would be caught. Why are you taking the principal’s name.”
Police arrested 4 accused
Based on the statement of the minor, Chitrakoot SP Vrinda Shukla formed the SIT to investigate the matter. The special team started an investigation on the basis of the allegations of the victim’s family. CCTV footage of the school as well as the locality, mobile call details of the people involved in the case and interrogation of the accused were started. The medical test of the minor was done. The report confirmed gangrape.
Five days after the FIR was lodged, i.e. on 30 July 2023, the police arrested 3 teachers of the school and a relative of the victim (the aunt’s son) Om Prakash. Om Prakash was arrested on the basis of call details between him and the victim.
According to the SIT, it has been revealed from the call records of Om Prakash that he was also involved in the ordeal with the rape victim. At present, Irshad, Moin, Aditya and Om Prakash have been sent to jail in this case. There was no evidence against the principal. That’s why he hasn’t been arrested yet, said the police.
Family demands for principal’s arrest
The victim’s father says, “Out of the 4 people arrested by the police, 2 people have been caught falsely. Our nephew was also picked up by the police on July 29. He has been forcibly made an accused in this case whereas he is innocent. Whereas, the Aditya who has been caught is some other person. The real accused Aditya is still absconding.”
Notably, SP Vrinda Shukla told Dainik Bhaskar, “After the confirmation of the gangrape with the girl, 4 people have been sent to jail. One of them is the victim’s aunt’s son (cousin). We are going to check the phone records and CDR of the victim’s relative.” The investigation has come to the conclusion that he has 100% raped the minor girl. The involvement of the remaining 3 accused is also being probed.”
When asked why the principal has not been arrested yet? She said, “So far no solid evidence has been found against Principal Rakesh Pratap in the investigation. The victim says that the principal took her to the CHC and gave her contraceptive pills. There is no record of this with the hospital either. Nor is there any such entry in the register. Hence the principal has not been arrested.”
The victim’s mother said, “I want justice, wherever I get it.” Whatever has happened to my daughter, should not happen to anyone else’s daughter. That’s why I will fight. Action should be taken against all four accused, all four should be caught, that’s all I want.
What did the activist say?
Block head Arvind said, “I had received information about what happened with the minor girl. The locals said the police were not taking her case. After that, I had gone there only to help the girl child so that a case could be registered. I reached the police station and I only told the girl not to be afraid, tell everything.
When asked about the allegations of forcing the minor to change her statement he said, “The rest, now if this girl is telling four, then get a case written against four, if she is telling five, then get it written against five.” I have not put any kind of pressure on the victim. Her allegations are baseless. “At the time when I met her, SO sir was also present there,” he added.
SP and Congress politicising the matter
The district head of Samajwadi Party, Shiv Shankar Yadav alleged that BJP is trying to protect the accused principal.
He said, “When the girl student is accusing 4 people and 4 people gang-raped her and made her video, then FIR should be registered against all four. The culprits should be punished severely. Action should also be taken against the politicians and policemen involved in this matter.”
On the other hand, Congress Tweeted, “In Chitrakoot’s Manikpur, a class 10 student was repeatedly raped by her principal and teachers. The victim did not become pregnant so they kept giving her birth control pills. The classroom in which she used to sit and study during the day, after the holidays, became the crematorium of her pride. In the toxic period of BJP, no predator is even thinking of doing heinous to heinous acts. These scoundrels, who promised to make us vishwa guru, have made this country a ‘Vish (poison)’ guru.”
— Chitrakoot Police (@chitrakootpol) August 4, 2023
