Girl abused at state-run school

A high-level probe has been instituted into the alleged sexual abuse of a girl in the state-run school for the handicapped at Miraj in Sangl...

A high-level probe has been instituted into the alleged sexual abuse of a girl in the state-run school for the handicapped at Miraj in Sangli district, the Assembly was informed today.

Replying to a calling attention notice given by Anil Babar (NCP) and others, Minister of State for Home Kripashankar Singh said senior police officer Sridevi Goyal will conduct the probe. If need be, the government will also conduct a CID probe, Singh said. The matter will also be referred to a panel comprising women MLAs from all parties, he added.

Notice on forced wedding
New Delhi: The NHRC has asked the Jharkhand government to file a report on an incident of forced marriage of teenagers in Dhanbad. Taking cognisance of newspaper reports which said that a 14-year old boy was married to a 12-year-old girl, whom he was found teasing, the NHRC today issued a notice to Jharkhand and asked it to file its report in four weeks. — ENS

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Intervening in the discussion, Social Welfare Minister Jaywant Awale told the House that state-run schools will now on have an all-women staff, except for security personnel. The government is willing to allow NGOs to run these schools if they show interest, he said.

The girl in question was referred to a juvenile court in Kolhapur when she was barely seven-month-old. It was just four months since her mother had died in 1985 and her father, who was a mental patient, had gone missing. The court had then ordered that the child be kept at a remand home till she became 20.

Now 18, the girl has attempted suicide twice, alleging that she was molested by two workers of the Government Handicap Children School and Residential Hostel.