The number of accused in the rape of a 12-year-old student of an ashram shala, a hostel cum school in the Buldhana district, on Saturday morning reached 15 as the police arrested four more people. Two of the accused are still absconding.
Sources said the victim told the women’s commission that the main accused Ittu Singh would pick her up at night from the hall where all the girls slept and raped her. Singh allegedly raped her on three to four occasions in front of the other girls on the floor of the hall. The victim was given a compensation of Rs 2 lakh on Saturday.
Maharashtra State Women’s Commission (MSWC) chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar while talking to The Asian Age said, “I visited the school today and found that it was poorly maintained and lacked security arrangements.”
Ms Rahatkar further said she had made a recommendation to the government that organisations that take aid but do not work should be dissolved and their permissions cancelled. “We have asked them to cancel the permission for this school and the girls be admitted to nearby government schools,” she said.
Sources have also informed that two other girls had faced similar abuse in the school but were not ready to lodge a complaint.
