16-year-old Gang-raped by Four Schoolmates in Dehradun, Staff Tries to Terminate Pregnancy

Dehradun: A 16-year-old girl studying at a boarding school on the outskirts of Dehradun was allegedly gang-raped by four seniors. The institute’s staff hushed up the matter and allegedly even tried to terminate her pregnancy.

According to police, the four boys – all Class XII students – and five school officials, including the director and principal, were arrested on Monday. The minors were presented before the Juvenile Justice Board while the officials have been charged with trying to conceal the crime.

Naresh Rathore, station house officer of Sahaspur, told News18 that school officials have been booked under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.

He said that the girl, a Class X student, was raped in the school’s store room after she was called there on August 14 on the pretext of preparations for Independence Day celebrations.

Medical tests have confirmed that she was raped and was pregnant. The school’s director claimed she was not aware about the incident.

Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti said the girl only confided in her sister, also a student of the same school, this past weekend. She also told her sister that she was one month pregnant.

She had approached the school management earlier, but it instead tried to hush up the matter, the police complaint said.

The crime came to light after a team of the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (USCPCR) led by chairperson Usha Negi met the girl and an FIR was registered on its direction.

Negi told TOI that medicated drinks were given to the girl by the administrator and his wife to terminate the pregnancy. She added that the “girl was also taken to a nursing home for abortion by school officials.”

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi expressed anguish over the rape of the minor girl in Dehradun school.