Patna: At least 40 middle-school students ended up in hospital when they confronted goons harassing them in Bihar.
The incident took place at Kasturba Gandhi Girls’ residential school, Daprakha, Supaul district, on Saturday evening.
The victims said they had been playing on the school’s premises when the group of youth men made derogatory remarks that were directed at them.
The men fled the scene after being confronted by the incensed girls, only to return armed with bamboo sticks and other objects.
“Soon the attackers started beating everyone, chasing us from one corner of the ground to another,” one of the girls said from her hospital bed. “We prayed for mercy but they didn’t take notice of our requests.”
Witnesses said the assailants ran amok on school grounds for about 15-20 minutes. “The attackers thrashed the girls because they had protested against the lewd comments,” hostel warden Reema Raj the media on Sunday “We tried hard to save the girls but they hit everyone. It was really horrible.”
Police have registered a case against 20 people and are scanning CCTV footage to identify other accused persons.
Local Congress parliamentarian Ranjit Ranjan visited the victims in hospital on Sunday and directed that the girls be given the best treatment as many had suffered internal injuries.
The incident comes close on the heels of revelations of sexual exploitation of girls at a government-run care home in Bihar, which is now being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. An official report reveals that at least 34 girls were allegedly gang-raped at the care home run by a government-funded organisation.
