This Article is From Sep 11, 2017

Girl, 11, Says Sent To Boys' Toilet As Punishment In Hyderabad School

A Class 5 student in Hyderabad says she was punished for not wearing the proper uniform.

In a video recorded by her father, the Hyderabad schoolgirl shared her ordeal.

Hyderabad: An 11-year-old girl who studies in a private school in Hyderabad says she was sent to the boys' loo as punishment for not turning up in school uniform.

In a video shot by the girl's father, the Class 5 student looks shaken as she describes to her father the sequence of events.

"The PT teacher caught me on my way to my class on the first floor. I kept saying please see my diary but no one paid any heed," the child said.

"They started screaming at me. I got scared and didn't say anything. There were 2-3 teachers including English teachers and tenth class Telugu teacher. They were saying how come she has turned up in civil colour dress and she doesn't even answer our questions. Let us put her in the boys' loo. Children were all watching," the girl is heard saying.

The child says she was made to stand there for five minutes after which was sent back to her class where she told her social studies teacher that her mother had written in the diary that her clothes were wet after being washed and so she should kindly be allowed in regular clothes.

The father is heard telling the child in the video shot on cell phone that no one would now trouble her at school since he has spoken to the school and her teachers but the girls is emphatic that she won't go back to that school.

"Now that you have raised the issue, they will beat me and harass me. I will never go back to that school," the child says, reflecting the trauma and humiliation she must have experienced.

Child rights activist Achyuta Rao, to whom the father complained, says this is also a violation under Prevention of Sexual Offences Against Children (POCSO) law.

"We want to press criminal charges against the school and teachers. How can they act in such an insensitive manner," Mr Rao says.

The child rights body also intends to write to the Human Rights Commission.

School authorities were not available for comment.
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