Agencies/Panaji

Thousands protested in the holiday state of Goa yesterday after a seven-year-old girl was raped in a school toilet, sparking fresh outrage in India following a deadly gang-rape on a bus in New Delhi.

Crowds began gathering outside the Deepvihar High School in Vasco da Gama on Monday night after news of the attack emerged, prompting police to arrest the headmistress on charges of neglect as well as appeal for calm.

A massive manhunt has been launched to trace the attacker, thought to be in his early 20s, who managed to get into the premises despite security guards posted at the school gate.

A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the girl was raped after being dragged inside the toilet situated next to the headmistress’s office during a break in classes.

Police were alerted after the girl complained of pain and was given a medical examination.

The girl was taken to hospital and has since been discharged, a charity worker accompanying her said. “She is fine now and recuperating at home,” she said.

The victim’s identity has been protected in line with Indian law.

Thousands of people surrounded the school on Monday night, shouting to demand the arrest of the headmistress and the perpetrator.  Demonstrations then spread to other parts of the city yesterday, with shops and businesses closing in protest.

Goa’s Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the spot to try and calm the tense gathering.

“We will not spare the accused and anyone involved in this crime,” he told the crowds, after which the headmistress was detained. She was later arrested for alleged negligence of duty, the police official said.

The case has been transferred from local police to the state crime branch, which has taken up the help of a teacher to draw a sketch of the accused, seen loitering in the school compound.

The Goa government told all schools to beef up security near their premises.

Women and Child Development Minister Dilip Parulekar said a circular had been issued to all schools in the state.

“We have asked all school managements to review the security measures for their premises. All security guards have been asked to keep an eye for strangers on the campus. We will not allow anyone to loiter in school premises without reason henceforth,” Parulekar said.

The attack comes after the gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi last month sparked nationwide protests and fuelled anger across India over the alarming incidence of sexual assault.

Five men and a teenager have been charged with the rape and murder of the 23-year-old woman, who died 13 days later in a Singapore hospital from horrific injuries.

Police say the suspects lured the woman and her male companion onto a private bus in the capital when the pair were returning home from the cinema.

The group allegedly beat the man and raped the young woman in the back of the bus while driving around the city for about 45 minutes.

They also sexually assaulted the woman with a metal bar, leaving her with severe intestinal injuries, before throwing her out of the vehicle.

Protesters across the country have called for tougher laws to punish rapists, including the introduction of capital punishment in the most extreme cases.

 

 

Odisha gang-rape victim dead

A teenaged girl, who tried to immolate herself after being gang-raped in Odisha on January 2, died in an Andhra Pradesh hospital yesterday, police said. Four people allegedly dragged the 16-year-old orphan to a forest near Anjiapeta village in Rayagada district, around 390km from Bhubaneswar as she was returning home from work. They fled after gang-raping her. She was spotted by some women and brought to the village. Unable to bear the trauma, the girl tried to immolate herself a day later and suffered over 80% burn injuries. She was admitted to a hospital in Rayagada town but was shifted to a private hospital in Vishakhapatnam town on January 7 after her condition deteriorated. Police will soon file a charge-sheet against the four accused, who were arrested soon after the incident. The girl was living with her grandmother and worked at a photocopying shop in Rayagada. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said strong action would be taken against the culprits. Patnaik also announced a compensation of Rs1mn for the relatives of the family.

School gives records of gang-rape accused to court

AFP/New Delhi

A school principal said yesterday he had presented admission records to a juvenile court which is trying to determine the age of the youngest defendant charged over a fatal gang-rape in New Delhi.

While five adult defendants could be sentenced to death if convicted of the attack on a bus in New Delhi on December 16, the youth would only have to serve three years in a reform facility - provided the court deems he is under 18.

Unlike the five adult defendants, the youngest accused has only been charged with gang-rape and robbery and not murder.

The accused, who cannot legally be identified, says he is 17 but prosecutors are challenging his claim and have ordered tests on his bone marrow.

Speaking to AFP outside the court, the head teacher at his school said he had been given records by the teenager’s parents which showed him to be 17.

“According to my records he was born in 1995,” said Shishupal Singh.

“During the admission the boy had come with his parents... they did not furnish a birth certificate so I just wrote the age mentioned by them,” he added.

Singh said the teenager was no longer officially registered as a student at the school in the Badaun district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

“The boy studied for three years in my school but after the second grade, he stopped coming to the school, so we deleted his name.”

Figuring out the defendant’s age could be complicated as he does not have a birth certificate - a common occurrence in rural India, where many children are born at home.

School records are often used as proof of name and age but are not definitive.

The teenager had been expected to attend yesterday’s session but court sources said he was not produced before the court.

 

 

Headmistress of Deepvihar high school Sharlet Furtado is taken into custody for negligence by police in Vasco da Gama.