School girls attacked for resisting harassment in Bihar, 36 injured

At least 36 girls of a residential school in Bihar’s Supaul district were injured when they were allegedly attacked by local youths and their parents for reportedly beating up some boys for sexual harassment.

The girls of Kasturba Gandhi Girls Residential School, Triveniganj in Supaul district were admitted to a local hospital following the incident on Saturday.

On Sunday, police arrested four youths in connection with the attack. Supaul district magistrate (DM), Baidynath Yadav said more arrests would be made soon.

The girls are aged between 10 and 14 years and are studying in Classes 6 to 9.

Yadav said the attack happened after some girls had beaten up some boys. This angered the boys and the parents.

But when asked whether the girls had responded to misbehaviour and sexual harassment, including passing lewd comments, by the boys, the DM said the matter was being investigated.

Reports said the girls were brutally assaulted by the mob when they were playing in a ground close to the residential school. Some of the miscreants were armed with batons and they also beat up some teachers of the school when they tried to intervene and save the girls.

The injured students were rushed to a nearby hospital and given first aid. “Six to seven girls are still in the hospital and will be released soon,” said the DM.

The attack on the girls triggered protests from several social organisations and also raised a question mark on the security at the government school.

Leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has upped the ante against the state government over rising cases of rape, eve teasing and murder. He described the alleged lawlessness in the state as “aatank raj (rule of terror)”.

Supaul MP Ranjeeta Ranjan visited the hospital and met the girls. Locals blocked the national highway to protest the assault on girls.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *