In a shocking incident, more than 100 girls of Carmel School, Dhanbad had to face embarrassment when the Principal M Devashree asked them to remove their shirts, alleged parents.

According to parents of the students the girls had gathered in the school to make the last day ‘Pen Day’ a memorable one and an order by the school principal forever tarnished the good memories of the school in the minds of the children. The students were writing good wishes on each other's shirts, but the Principal who did not approve of this said that if the children come out of the school with such shirts, the image of the institution will be tarnished and she forcibly made the students remove their shirts, they said.

When the parents came to know about the incident, they approached Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Madhavi Mishra along with Jharia MLA Ragini Singh and alleged that around 100 students were sent home without shirts, only in blazers. The students were asked to remove their shirts in front of male teachers in the school campus itself. Scared by the principal's attitude, the girls removed their shirts on the premises; when many students expressed their inability to do so, they were forcibly asked to remove their shirts. About 20 students had brought spare shirts with them, but around 100 came out of the school campus only in blazers.

“On Thursday, the last day of the pre-board exam, the children were wishing each other on the occasion of Pen Day, but the management did not like this, I put this incident in the category of mental rape. We are ashamed to even say that such an incident happened with the girl students. Before this, their mobile phones were taken away from them so that the entire incident could not be recorded. We all demand the Deputy Commissioner to take action against the Principal under the POCSO Act,” said Dhanbad based social worker Ankit Rajgaria.

Dhanbad DC Madhavi Mishra said, “The district administration has taken this very seriously and spoken to the parents and some girls. An investigation committee has also been formed which will go to the school and investigate the whole matter. We will take action on the basis of their report. Also, if needed, an FIR will also be registered. The sub- divisional officer, district education officer, social welfare officer, SDPO and local police station in- charge have been included in the investigation team and they will visit the school and submit the investigation report.”

“The investigation in this matter is on and the CCTV footage will also be checked in the process,” said SDM Dhanbad Mahesh Kumar.

Jharia MLA Ragini Singh said that the DC has assured of a thorough investigation in this matter.