MP: 16-Year-Old Dalit Girl Beaten up for Sitting in the Front Row, Teacher Booked

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh police lodged an FIR against a woman government teacher for passing casteist slurs and thrashing a 16-year-old dalit girl for allegedly sitting in the front row of the class.

According to police, the incident occurred over 700 km away from the state capital on August 2 at the Government Higher Secondary Girls School, Baidhan, in the Singrauli district.

In the police complaint, Anjana Saket (name changed), a student of class 12th, alleged that when the teacher Jagriti Singh entered the classroom that day, she was enraged after seeing Saket on the front bench of the class. She subsequently passed casteist slurs and hit Saket with the book on her head multiple times.

"I fell unconscious for hours after she hit me with a book on my head," the complainant claimed in the FIR.

Acting on the complaint, police lodged the FIR against the accused teacher Jagriti Singh on August 17 at Bairan police station of Singrauli.

"On the complaint of a dalit girl, police booked a teacher Jagriti Singh under section 294, 323 and 506 of the IPC and also invoked two sections of SC/ST Atrocities Act -1989," said Arun Kumar Pandey, town inspector of Bairan police station.

The probe is underway, he added.

According to an official communique issued by the district collector a day after the FIR, the decision to slap a case against the teacher was taken based on the findings of the District Education Officer (DEO) Rohini Prasad Pandey, who was instructed by the district collector Rajeev Ranjan Meena to probe the matter.

A day after the incident, the victim, along with her parents, approached the district collector demanding strict action against the teacher.

During the probe, the DEO found evidence of assault and discrimination and submitted the report on Wednesday to the collector. Acting on the report, an FIR was lodged against her, the collector told reporters on August 18.

Many students and teachers have also endorsed the allegations made by the students against the teacher, said officials.

The district collector has also sent a letter to the Rewa commissioner to initiate a departmental inquiry against her as she violated the sections of Madhya Pradesh Civil Service (conduct) 1995.

"We have also written to the concerned department to initiate the suspension process," said Meena in the official communique.

Despite repeated attempts, DEO Pandey was not available for comment.