Latur School Expels Student Allegedly Raped by Jawan, Faces Probe

The school is under the lens for reportedly expelling a 15-yr-old who was allegedly raped by an Army jawan in April.

A file photo of an anti-rape protest. Image used for representational purpose. 

(Photo: PTI)

A school in Maharashtra's Latur has been asked to explain why it allegedly expelled a 15-year-old student who was raped by an Army jawan in April this year.

The Indian Express quoted Latur district collector G Shreekant as saying that the principal of the school had denied the charge. “He denied that the school on its own had given the leaving certificate. He said the girl’s brother had sought the school leaving certificate,” Shreekant told the daily.

Her brother got a call from a teacher of the school who said we should collect her leaving certificate as the school does not want to keep a student because of whom the school will be defamed.

The student’s maternal uncle told <i>The Indian Express</i>

According to the report, Despite an FIR lodged by the victim’s family in August, the Army jawan in question has still not been arrested.

Additionally, Times Now reports that when the family had first approached the police to register an FIR, they had refused to do so until they paid them a bribe of Rs 50,000. “Since then we were chasing the police for registering the offence. The police had consistently refused to register the rape complaint… They were demanding money from us… It was only when we approached the SP that a complaint was registered on 29 August,” the girl’s uncle told the daily.

The victim’s family managed to lodge an FIR against the Army jawan when they approached Latur SP Shivaji Rathod, reports Indian Express. An unnamed officer in the station confirmed this and added: “...the girl’s family had made an application to the school for removing her name from the school as she was not regularly attending the classes.”

The officer also told Indian Express that in matters of arrest concerning any Army persons, ‘certain formalities’ had to be carried out before.

A medical examination of the victim had been conducted and a case under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered in this regard.

(With inputs from The Indian Express and Times Now.)