At least five children, aged 12 to 13, were dragged to a residential school in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham area by their seniors. Last week, they were allegedly abused, attacked, and had their hair cut off with scissors.
The incident was discovered on Wednesday, after which eight senior students were arrested, and one was sent to jail.
The event occurred on March 11 at a school in the Targegaon Jungle community, part of the Bodla development block. All of the students at the school reside in a dormitory on campus and are assigned to different rooms. The seniors entered one of the juniors’ rooms and asked the other juniors to gather there. They allegedly assaulted the students for failing to do their job and growing long hair.
A few of videos emerged on social media networks showing the accused slapping three youngsters and beating them on the head. One of the films showed senior students slicing off two students’ hair.
As the event became public, Kabirdham Collector Janmejay Mahobe initiated an investigation. The superintendent of the residential school was fired, and the school principal was served with a show-cause notice.
“Seven of the eight defendants are juveniles. One of them is a student of 18 years old. He was arrested and taken to court, and sentenced to judicial custody. “He’ll have to stay in jail until he gets bail,” a police officer stated.
An FIR has been filed under IPC Sections 294 (obscenity in public), 342 (wrongful detention), 323 (causing hurt), and 506 (criminal intimidation), as well as Prevention of Ragging Act Section 4 (punishment for ragging).
