Six employees disengaged amid protests by locals
at Daringbadi
residential school
Daringbadi/Bhubaneswar: Tension erupted at Daringbadi under Sadar police limits in Kandhamal district Sunday morning after a minor inmate of a government-run tribal residential school delivered a baby inside her hostel. Six employees of the tribal school were “disengaged” soon after, officials said Sunday.
The 14-year-old girl, a student of Class VIII, delivered a baby girl in the school hostel Saturday night, Kandhamal district welfare officer (DWO) Charulata Mallick said.
The school, Seva Ashram High School, at Daringbadi in Kandhamal district is run by the tribal and rural development department of Odisha.
The student and her new born were admitted to Baliguda CHC Sunday morning. Doctors said their condition was normal.
With the government facing sharp criticism from the Opposition parties over the incident, SC and ST Development Minister Ramesh Majhi said the District Collector has been asked to probe the incident and submit a detailed report on the circumstances under which the girl got pregnant and delivered the child.
“The government has taken a serious view of the incident,” he said in Bhubaneswar. Stringent action would be taken against those responsible. The police are also investigating the matter, he added.
DWO Mallick said a third year student of Daringbadi College, who is a resident of Takalmaha village, has been arrested in this connection.
District Collector D Brunda said two matrons, two cook-cum-attendants, a lady supervisor and an auxiliary nurse midwife of the school were disengaged from service for dereliction of duty.
The government has also recommended suspension of the residential school headmistress Radha Rani Dalei on the same charges, Brunda said.
The Collector has also asked the Baliguda sub-collector to conduct a thorough probe into the incident and submit a report within 10 days. As the matter came to light, irate locals of nearby villages rushed to the school and sought details of the incident from the school teachers and blocked National Highway 59 demanding immediate arrest of the accused.
Angry locals then gheraoed school teacher Misi Pradhan’s government quarters and raised slogans at the school. They burnt tyres on the road to hold up traffic demanding immediate arrest of the persons responsible for the minor girl’s pregnancy. The protestors demanded transfer of all the teachers in the school. Later, the mob held a demonstration at Chari Chhak on NH 59.
In view of the palpable tension, Daringbadi police led by IIC Alesh Garadia, reached the spot and pacified the irate mob. Police also rescued the headmistress of the school and has been interrogating her in this connection.
Talking to reporters, Garadia said the headmistress and the hostel superintendent are being interrogated. He, however, did not reveal the details.
The road blockade was lifted with the intervention of Kandhamal SDPO who assured the people of appropriate action against the guilty. The SDPO later told the media that the police have detained a youth in connection with the incident.
