A district court granted anticipatory bail to the principal of a prestigious residential school in South Bengaluru Friday in a case registered last week over allegations of ragging and sexual harassment raised by a Class 10 student against his seniors.
Eight people, including the principal and a hostel warden, were named in the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the police under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, the Juvenile Justice Act, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Last week, the police arrested the hostel warden.
Meanwhile, the 61-year-old principal of the international academy, who was named as the eighth accused, approached the court for anticipatory bail. The district court for Pocso cases granted interim bail to her on Friday “considering the exceptional facts and circumstances involved in the case”.
The student, who studied in a boarding school at a hill station in Maharashtra, had joined the South Bengaluru school this year, following which he reported incidents of alleged ragging that targeted him for over four days. The victim was allegedly forced to dance without clothes and subjected to sexual harassment. An investigation is underway.
His classmate reported the matter to the student’s parents and a police complaint was filed. According to the complaint, the hostel warden did not act on the student’s complaints. “The student is in shock. It will take time to recover,” his relative said.
The principal argued that the only allegation against her was that she failed to take action despite being informed about the alleged ragging of a Class 10 student at the residential school by Class 12 students. The principal added that she would cooperate with the investigation.