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Girl students forced to undress by teachers as punishment

Itanagar: Students of a girls’ school in Arunachal Pradesh were allegedly forced to undress by three teachers as a punishment for writing vulgar words against the head teacher.

Eighty-eight students of class VI and VII of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Tani Happa (New Sagalee) in Papum Pare district were subjected to the humiliating treatment on November 23, police said.

The matter, however, came to light on November 27 after the victims approached the All Sagalee Students Union (ASSU), who then filed an FIR with the local police. According to the complaint, two assistant teachers and a junior teacher forced 88 students to undress before other students following the recovery of a piece of paper containing vulgar words about the head teacher and a girl student.

Papum Pare Superintendent of Police Tumme Amo today confirmed the filing of the FIR by ASSU. He said the case has been forwarded to the women police station here. "The officer in-charge of the (women) police station said the victims and their parents along with the teachers will be interrogated before registering a case," Amo said.

A team of All Papum Pare District Students Union (APPDSU) had met the students and teachers yesterday, and found that an unidentified student had used vulgar words in a piece of paper mentioning the name of the head teacher and a girl student, a release by APPDSU said.

The teachers demanded an explanation from all the 88 students of classes VI and VII, who were later made to undress before the other students as punishment, it said. "The school authorities did not speak to the parents of the students before punishing them," APPDSU president Nabam Tado said.

The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has condemned the incident and said such "heinous act" by the teachers might affect the students. "Tempering with a child’s dignity is against the law as well as the constitution," it said in a statement.

"To discipline a student is an attitude, character, responsibility and commitment of a teacher. Undressing a student is definitely not a corrective measure...Imposing such punishment is total violation of child rights, and more likely it may accelerate the risk of child abuse," the party added.