Serial rape charge on college teachers

A student was allegedly raped by four teachers over six months in her hostel, sparking a rampage today by parents angry at the delay in action.

The 21-year-old victim alleged that she was raped 14 times and had informed the college authorities three days back.

But the students, tired of waiting for action, called up their parents, who descended on the Naimisharanya Teachers’ Training College in Patan, 140km north of Ahmedabad, this morning.

They thrashed teachers and set their motorcycles on fire, forcing police to intervene. The four accused have been detained and district police chief Raghvendra Vats said they would be arrested once an FIR was lodged.

“Such a thing (the rape) has been going on for a couple of months. The girl had informed the authorities but the principal wanted to take action after verifying the facts. In the meantime, students informed their parents,” Vats said.

The physical abuse continued till a few weeks back, when the victim had gone with the four teachers to a village for internship.

When she returned to her hostel in Patan, she was so traumatised that she could barely talk and collapsed at the sight of her tormentors.

To conceal the truth, the teachers tried to spread the word that the victim had psychological problems, said Hardik Chaudhary whose sister is one of the 98 girls at the college, the state’s largest teachers’ training institute. Patan is the constituency of PWD minister Anandiben Patel, who is close to chief minister Narendra Modi.

Other than vice-principal Bharatiben, to whom the victim sent the complaint, all seven teachers of the college are men. Bharatiben had passed on the letter to principal K.D. Purania.

Police chief Vats said he did not doubt the principal’s explanation that he knew about the incidents and was only waiting to verify the facts. But the students felt the college authorities were sitting on the complaint.

“My daughter told me that the girls had informed the authorities three days ago but no action was taken. She asked me to reach here this morning,” said Hemraj Chaudhary, among the parents who stormed the college.

Many parents alleged that this instance of abuse wasn’t an isolated one and most girls faced some sort of harassment.

They accused teachers of making obscene remarks and cracking suggestive jokes and said this had been going on for months.

Many were considering pulling girls out of the hostel. One of them was Hardik, who said he was planning to shift his sister, a final-year student in the two-year course, to another institute in the town.

Others said they had started looking for alternative accommodation.

News Source : Samachar