Bhuj: Police arrested Monday four persons, including the principal of the Gujarat college where authorities allegedly forced over 60 girls to remove their undergarments to check if they were menstruating a week ago, an official said.
The arrests were made after the police filed an FIR against them for the February 11 incident at Shree Sahajanand Girls Institute (SSGI) which caused public outrage.
SSGI, a self-financed college having its own girls’ hostel, is located in this town of Kutch district. The college is run by a trust of the Swaminarayan Temple and is affiliated to the Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kutch University.
Principal Rita Raninga, girls’ hostel rector Ramilaben Hirani, college peon Naina Gorasiya and one Anita Chauhan were arrested by the police.
Taking serious view of the incident, linked to a hostel rule, the college authorities has already suspended Raninga, Hirani and Gorasiya, said SSGI trustee Pravin Pindoria, Monday.
“We today arrested all the four accused named in the FIR,” police inspector PH Langdhirka said. They were produced before a local court which remanded them in police custody for two days,” he added.
The accused were booked under IPC sections 384 (extortion), 355 (assault with intent to dishonour a person) and 506 (criminal intimidation), other police officials informed.
After the incident came to light, a seven-member team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) met Sunday the girl inmates of the hostel.
A student earlier told mediapersons that the incident took place February 11 in the hostel, located on the campus of SSGI, which offers graduate and under-graduate courses. She alleged that over 60 students were taken to the washroom by a woman staffer and made to remove their undergarments to check if they were menstruating.
PTI
