Patna: A schoolgirl of class eight in a government school in Bihar was not only sexually exploited and impregnated by the school’s headmaster but also offered money in order to keep quiet and go for an abortion, according to an FIR registered by the hapless girl’s family.
Manini Kumari (name changed), a student of class 8, was allegedly sexually exploited for months by Sanjeev Kumar, the school’s headmaster-in-charge. The sordid act took place during the time the girl was attending private tuition at Kumar’s house, said police officials probing the allegations.
Kumar, however, refuted the charges and attributed them to an ill-motivated campaign by the local people against him. But the girl’s family told police that they were being pressurized by local men deployed by Kumar to receive a sum of money ranging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh in order to get the girl to abort the foetus and withdraw the police complaint.
“Following the girl’s pregnancy and her family lodging an FIR, there is tension among villagers. We have been told that the teacher had promised to marry the girl. We are conducting an inquiry and taking steps to get the girl medically examined,” said Prashant Kumar, police SHO said. The accused teacher is, however, yet to be arrested.
The girl’s family has refused to accept any monetary compensation and wants the schoolteacher to be punished for his crime. Police said the family was still unsure about getting the 15-year-old girl to go for an abortion. The incident comes in the wake of a spurt in sexual crimes in Bihar, for which opposition BJP has been criticising the state government.
