Ludhiana government school library restorer booked for raping 15-year-old student - Hindustan Times
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Ludhiana government school library restorer booked for raping 15-year-old student

Dec 05, 2022 11:06 PM IST

Ludhiana district education officer lodges complaint after departmental probe against absconding accused

In yet another incident of sexual abuse on school campus, a library restorer workinga at a government school in a village in Jagraon sub-division was booked for allegedly raping Class 10 student.

A library restorer in a government school at a village in Jagraon sub division of Ludhiana district was has been booked for raping a student of Class 10. (Representative image)
A library restorer in a government school at a village in Jagraon sub division of Ludhiana district was has been booked for raping a student of Class 10. (Representative image)

Acting on the district education officer’s (DEO) complaint, a case was registered against the accused, Mandeep Singh of Adarsh Colony in Jagraon, at the Sadar police station on Sunday.

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The DEO, in her statement, said a departmental probe was initiated against the accused after the department received an anonymous complaint. The probe found the accused guilty following which the DEO Jaswinder Kaur, who has now been transferred, wrote to the Ludhiana Rural senior superintendent of police (SSP) to seek the registration of a first information report (FIR).

The victim lives with her sister and brother-in-law, who are her legal guardians. The incident was first reported to the panchayat by her brother-in-law. The victim told the panchayats the accused had been sexually harassing her for the past six months.

The accused had allegedly take her to a tubewell room in Leela Megh Singh village during the summer vacation in June and raped her. He also gave her contraceptive pills.

Notably, the panchayat members had on October 3 locked the school from outside to mark their protest and demand action against the accused. A probe had at the time been marked to the deputy DEO Charanjit Singh.

Singh recorded the statements of the victim’s classmates, her class teacher and other staff members and the team found that the accused molested the victim whenever she visited the library. The accused had also stopped coming to the school after a while and the victim’s name was cut off from the school on August 31.

The victim later shared her ordeal with her sister and brother-in-law adding that she had mulled ending her own life. She later moved in with her maternal uncle and aunt. The inquiry officer, meanwhile, mentioned that the victim had not recorded her statement, but the panchayats had confirmed that she had accused Mandeep Singh of raping her.

Inspector Harjinder Singh, the station house officer (SHO) at the Sadar police station, said a case was registered under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

A hunt is on for the absconding accused.

Accused, brother tried to pressurise inquiry officer

The deputy DEO in the report also mentioned that Kanwaljit Singh, the accused’s brother deputed as a Punjabi teacher in the same school, tried to pressurise during the time of the inquiry. Claiming his brother was innocent, Kanwaljit said the accused was suffering from mental stress because of the allegations and would end his life if the department did not stop “harassing” him.

Past school horrors

October 6: The Koomkalan Police had registered an FIR against an elementary teacher trainer deputed at government primary school, village Hayatpur, for molesting a Class 4 student 23 days after the parents and village panchayat raised the issue.

June 1: A government school physical training instructor was booked for sending inappropriate messages to the students and forcing them to talk to him over phone at odd hours.

April 8: Police booked a government school teacher for allegedly harassing a Class 10 student during the first term exam — writing down “call me” his mobile number on the question paper.

April 8: A government school teacher allegedly raped a Class 12 student for months. A case was registered after the victim posted a letter to the police chief narrating the whole incident.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Tarsem Singh Deogan is a senior reporter at Ludhiana. He has 16 years of experience in journalism. He has covered all beats and now focuses on crime reporting.

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