Class 8 student delivers baby in Odisha district

Bhubaneswar: Tension ran high in Daringbadi area in Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Sunday after reports that a Class 8 girl delivered a baby at a residential school. Irate locals staged a demonstration and blocked National Highway 59 demanding probe and immediate arrest of the accused involved in the incident.

Vehicular traffic between Daringbadi and Berhampur and other parts of the district was adversely affected due to the road blockade agitation.

Later, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC and ST) development minister Ramesh Majhi ordered Kandhamal collector to conduct a probe under what circumstances the incident occurred and submit a report at the earliest.

Preliminary probe reveals that the headmistress Radharani Dalai during interrogation admitted that a Class VIII girl student has delivered a baby girl. “Probe reveals that the girl was raped by one Shraban Kumar Pradhan eight months ago when she had gone home. We have detained the the accused and further probe is on,” said Kandhamal superintendent of police Prateek Singh. “We demand immediate arrest of the headmistress of the residential school. The school will be locked until action is taken against the persons concerned. We will not withdraw our strike until the collector and SP visit the spot,” said an agitator. Odisha Mahila Congress leader Sumitra Jena condemned the incident of schoolgirl delivering baby in Kandhamal and threatened stir if the matter was not investigated properly.

“A team of Congress women wing will visit the school to study the negligence of the authorities to detect the case,” Ms Jena said.

State BJP women wing president Prabhati Parida, while condemning the school authorities for their failure to detect the pregnancy of the minor girl, — demanded “strictest” actions against the district education officials for not monitoring girls’ hostels of residential schools in tribal dominated areas.