Lucknow, May 18: A teenaged girl studying in class VI of an Unnao school was allegedly raped by her class teacher who later tried to terminate her pregnancy with the help of the school cook. However, as her condition deteriorated, the girl's parents rushed her to the Queen Mary's Hospital (QMH) in the city in a critical condition. The government has ordered an inquiry into the incident and would try to find out if there were other victims of the teacher's misdeed in the school.
The girl, a resident of Unnao's Fatehpur Chaurasi block, was admitted in an extremely critical condition at the QMH here on Thursday morning. Doctors said "the girl was brought in an unconscious state with complaint of constant abnormal vaginal bleeding". The doctors took no time to ascertain the cause of blood loss. "The 14-year-old underwent an unsafe abortion after an almost 10-week pregnancy," the doctors told the local police and the girl's father Kalika Prasad.
Additional Director General (Law and Order) B P Singh said the parents of the girl have lodged a complaint with the police and the Unnao police have arrested the teacher and the woman cook of the school who forced the girl to take the pill for abortion.
The police have not ruled out the possibility of more victims in the school. Chief medical officer, Unnao, Dr D P Mishra also met the family and the victim in Lucknow. State minister for basic education, Waseem Ahmed, has ordered a probe into the case and assured strict action against those behind the misdeed.
The girl's parents told QMH doctors that their daughter was a student of class VI at the government-run Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya.
The girl alleged that her school teacher Hari Narayan had raped her over two months ago. She also blamed the school cook, Anuradha, for what happened with her. She revealed that the cook forced her to take the pill which caused excessive bleeding. Talking to the media, girl's father said: "A few days ago the school authorities informed us that she was not keeping well. We brought her home and when the bleeding did not stop, we took her to the local hospital, from where she was referred to QMH. The doctors here told us about the abortion attempt. After this, she narrated the entire story to us." On why was the girl silent for so long, the family members said, "the school teacher threatened her of dire consequences if she opened her mouth."
Chief medical superintendent, CSM Medical University under which the hospital comes, Prof S N Shankhwar said that the girl was in a critical condition. "The pill given to the girl has damaged her uterus besides causing some internal complications," he said adding that the team was trying to give best treatment to the girl.
The incident has once again raised question over the safety of girls living in residential schools. A few days back, girl students of KGBV in Azamgarh had lodged complaint against the school guard and cook of sexual harassment. Both the accused were later arrested and sacked. Girls of an ashram school run by the district social welfare office in Kushinagar accused two grade IV employees of the school of raping them. The school is run by the district social welfare office. District magistrate (DM) Rigzin Samphel inspected the school and prima facie found that the allegations were true. He ordered a magisterial probe in the case which proved the crime.
Rashi Singh, a social activist, said that many cases of sexual abuse are not reported by the girls fearing that it could bring bad name to their family." "We have also found that girls are being subjected to misbehaviour by school officials and anomalies like poor quality food, lack of space, shortage of staff, inadequate study material," she added.
Not just schools, orphanages and protection homes have proved to be unsafe for girl. About a month back, three minor girls were raped by a peon in Rajikiya Shishu Grih, an orphanage run by the government, for children below 10 years of age in Allahabad. The victims are said to be between 7 to 9 years of age are subjected to physical and mental trauma for last few months. However, the matter came to light when one of the girls disclosed everything to a childless couple who wanted to adopt her. The couple informed the authorities. Later inquires found two more victims. Medical examination confirmed rape.
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