Bihar: Nine held for assaulting 36 schoolgirls after they resisted sexual harassment in Supaul

The police on Monday said that nine people, including a minor have so far been arrested in connection with the alleged assault and sexual harassment case of at least 36 girls of a residential school in Bihar’s Supaul district.

The Darbhanga zonal Inspector General had told news agency ANI that the girls used to go to a playground nearby where some boys would write obscene words on walls. The girls would rub them off. This happened for two-four days.

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The ASP of Triveniganj said on Monday, “Nine people have been arrested so far, one of them a minor. Others have been asked to produce matric certificates. We want to identify the rest and don't want any innocent to get caught.”

The girls, aged between 10 and 14 years and studying in Classes 6 to 9, of Kasturba Gandhi Girls Residential School, Triveniganj in Supaul district were admitted to a local hospital following the incident on Saturday.

On Sunday, the police arrested four youths in connection with the attack. Supaul district magistrate (DM), Baidynath Yadav said more arrests would be made soon.

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“Yesterday, they asked a boy to stop doing that. After that the boy, his mother and some other women beat them up. At least 14 children are still being treated at a hospital. The accused have been identified and an FIR has been registered,” The Darbhanga zonal IG said.

Reports suggest some of the miscreants were armed with batons and they also beat up some teachers of the school when they tried to intervene and save the girls.

One of the girls, beaten up by the miscreants, said: “The boys often used to write obscene words on the walls. We stopped them from doing that and they thrashed us. There were some women with them who beat us up too and manhandled our teachers.”

The incident triggered protests from several social organisations and also raised a question mark on the security at the government school, reported Hindustan Times.

Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav condemned the government in strongest terms. In a series of tweets, Tejashwi Yadav said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has "totally surrendered himself in the hands of goons & Deputy CM is begging mercy to hardened criminals".