Vice-principal of Kolkata school where 4-year-old was assaulted allegedly said girls wear coloured bras to attract attention

The alumni also claimed that the students were regularly threatened if they spoke about the mistreatment in school

By: Kanishk Singh |
December 4, 2017 12:16 pm

GD Birla Centre For Education in Kolkata is in the centre of a furore after two Physical Training teachers were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl inside the school’s washroom by luring her with chocolates. The victim was bleeding profusely when she returned home from school on November 30. The teachers were booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Protesting outside the school, the parents demanded the principal’s resignation.

One of the school’s alumni, Rupkatha Basu, penned a long post wherein she described the horrors she and her peers silently faced when they were studying there. She alleged that the school management wanted students to remain silent regarding the recent crime. She also said that the school had been complicit in ‘ethical violation’ for many years.

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Basu alleges,

It is a body that believes that it is okay for students and teachers to waste entire periods wandering around in search of an empty classroom, but sinful for two classmates of the opposite sex to greet each other if they happen to meet in the corridors. It is a body that will stuff 70 students in a class that has a capacity of 40, provide no air-conditioning, and then claim no responsibility if the students fall sick. It is a body that recruits vice principals who will point out the colour of your bra in front of a bunch of older boys.

Photo Courtesy: Empowered EduCafe

Basu claims that the vice-principals pointed out their coloured bra straps and accused the students of intentionally drawing attention.

Citing another incident, Basu narrated,

My batch mates and I were screamed at, chased, and threatened with physical assault with a metre ruler, all because we wanted to celebrate the last day of school in the field by making a formation of our school acronym. The stick was swung at the faces of begging, crying and unarmed students, who were, as usual, threatened with ‘dire consequences’.

Basu further goes on to allege that the management abused, insulted and questioned the characters of students. She also claimed that the school authorities regularly threatened to cut marks or withhold admit cards if the students spoke about the mistreatment.

According to the parents of the victim, a female student was sexually assaulted in 2014 as well and the school authorities allegedly did not take any substantiative action and did not install CCTV cameras either.

Source – The Times of India

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