17 Girls Allegedly Drugged, Molested After Being Asked To Stay Back In School

New Delhi: Seventeen minor schoolgirls have alleged that they were drugged and molested by two office bearers of two schools in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

Out of 29 students studying in Class X of a particular school, only girl students were allegedly called to their own school. According to reports, they were made to spend the night in a school building but it is not sure whether this school is the same as the one to which the girls attend. The manager of the girls’ school, identified in some reports as the principal, Yogesh Chauhan told them that they would have practical exams in the morning and needed to spend the night in the school, The Wire reported.

One of the girls who was molested said that the principal had called them for “Hindu practicals” and said they did not know whether any such board exam had been scheduled the day after at all.

Chouhan allegedly sedated them by mixing drugs in the khichdi he helped them prepare as dinner. “The girls lost consciousness after eating khichdi. And then they were molested,” said a complainant, NDTV reported.

The incident allegedly took place on November 18. The principal had threatened the girls with dire consequences if they spoke of their ordeal once home.

The incident came to light only when the parents of two of the victims approached Purkaji’s BJP MLA Pramod Utwal, Indian Express reported adding that the police initially did not agree to register an FIR.

Utwal told the paper that the girls’ families are poor and did not know how to say no to the manager/principal.

Purkazi police station SHO V.K. Singh was transferred to the police line for negligence of duty in the matter, the report added.

“An FIR has been filed and the accused charged under section 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 506 (criminal intimidation) and relevant sections of the POCSO Act,” Muzaffarnagar police chief Abhishek Yadav was quoted as saying.