- Police registered a case against eight persons including principal and teachers at Shahapur school
- Girls from Classes 5 to 10 were made to strip to check for menstruation after bloodstains found
- Girls were shown bloodstain photos and questioned, then divided into groups for thumb impressions or checks
Police have registered a case against eight persons, including the principal and four teachers of a private school at Shahapur in Maharashtra's Thane district, after girls studying in Classes 5 to 10 were made to strip to check if they were menstruating, officials said.
The incident occurred at the R S Damani school in the town on Tuesday after bloodstains were found in its toilet, they said.
It sparked outrage among the parents of the girl students, who protested on the school premises on Wednesday and sought action against the management and teachers involved in the episode.
As per the complaint lodged by a parent of one of students, the girls studying in Classes between 5 and 10 were called to the convention hall of the school and shown the photos of blood stains in the toilet and floor by screening them through a projector, and asked if anybody from them was going through the menstrual cycle.
These girls were then divided into two groups. All those who said they were menstruating, were asked to give their thumb impression to the teachers. But those girls who said they were not experiencing it, were taken to the toilet one by one with a woman attendant checking their private parts, it said.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered against the school principal, four teachers, the attendant and two trustees, the police said.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Thane rural) Rahul Zalte said when the parents learnt about the girl students being subjected to this kind of a check, they gathered at the school and demanded action against the teachers involved.
"The situation turned tense for a while with the irate parents demanding action," he said.
The police are probing the entire incident, and the process of registering the offence against those found guilty is underway, he said.
The case against the eight persons was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 76 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.
None of them has been arrested in this connection so far, senior inspector Mukesh Dhage of the Shahapur police station said.
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