With visually impaired adults aged between 18 and 55 outnumbering the students in the hostel, cases of sexual abuse, bullying, rampant drinking and substance abuse have also been reported
Students of a government school for visually impaired here are facing sexual and mental harassment by those illegally staying there. With no warden to man the school either, the principal had taken up the issue with the authorities, writing as many as three letters in the last four months, but to no avail.
With visually impaired adults aged between 18 and 55 outnumbering the students in the hostel, cases of sexual abuse, bullying, rampant drinking and substance abuse have also been reported, sources said.
According to the officials at Andh Mahavidyalaya on Panchkuian Road, that offers classes from class I to VIII, the absence of warden or any other supervisor makes the situation vulnerable for the students residing there.
Delhi police had registered a case on January 27 based on a complaint made by a student.
"Out of 103 inhabitants at the hostel, only 43 are students. There is no warden to supervise them despite us taking up the issue with the department of education of the Delhi government. These adults even share hostel rooms with the students," a senior official at the school said on condition of anonymity.
"The school is not fully aided by the Delhi government. The government only pays the faculty. We have no role in the management of the hostel," said Atishi Marlena, advisor to Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia.
Deputy Directorate of Education Neeraj declined to comment when DNA contacted her.
"The first letter, detailing the mess created by these 60 adult hostelers and complaints of sexual harassment, was sent on November 3, 2016. Two others were sent on January 1 and February 14 this year," said the school official. He added that though the school had issued an eviction notice to this "obnoxious gang" in August 2016, they continued to occupy the hostel illegally.
A hostel inhabitant's complaint with the Delhi Police on January 27 said: "A gang of former students, mostly overaged, have been mentally and sexually harassing the students under the influence of drugs and alcohol on the hostel premises".
"The adults are misusing the hostel premises to engage in all types of activities. The environment of the school and hostel is not appropriate for the students who are studying there," said the complainant, who studies political science in Delhi University.
Last week, a similar case was reported from the hostel of another blind school in South Delhi's Amar colony when a 20-year-old was arrested for allegedly sodomising a visually impaired 10-year-old student.
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