Just three days after seeking an action-taken report (ATR) from the Deogarh SP on the arrest of six innocent persons in connection with a fake murder case, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday asked the Keonjhar SP to file an ATR within four weeks on the alleged rape incident of a Class-II tribal girl.
The eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by school headmaster Gadadhar Mahanta in April this year. When the girl informed about it to her mother, the enraged headmaster suspended the girl from the school. The girl’s father lodged an FIR at the local Harichandanpur police station on April 20 and the police arrested and forwarded to court the headmaster the day after. “We had arrested the accused immediately the day after the incident was brought to our notice after conducting a medical examination of the victim,” said Keonjhar SP Kavita Jalan.
Subsequently, however, the District Inspector of Schools conducted an inquiry following an order from the School and Mass Education Department. “But till date, no administrative action has been initiated against the accused,” said advocate and human rights activist Prabir Kumar Das, who has moved the NHRC.
Das has sought the commission’s intervention for a fair inquiry and making arrangements for a much-needed counselling to the victim so that she is able to get back to the school for continuing her studies. Das has mentioned that since the victim is a poor tribal girl, the State Government must pay adequate compensation to the victim’s family.