Teachers asked girl students to strip

RANCHI: A Jharkhand school principal and four teachers have been booked for allegedly asking 13 girl students to strip to look for missing money, police said on Monday.

An FIR was lodged Sunday against the principal, Mohammad Sharfuddin, his deputy Rajiv Kumar Singh and three women teachers of Balika Middle School of Moddidih colliery in Dhanbad district, around 290 km from Ranchi, police said.

The report was filed after the parents complained that the school staff had forced their kids to remove their clothes to frisk them for lost money of one of their classmates.

On Saturday, Nazia Parveen of Class VIII claimed to have lost Rs.55. When the money was not found, the girls of the class were first asked to remove their shoes and then their skirts and shirts.

"When I refused to remove my skirt and shirt, the lady teachers threatened to strip me before the principal. I had no option but to remove my clothes," the police quoted one of the students as saying.

The money was not found. And the teachers reportedly threatened the girls not to tell their parents about the incident.

The principal has denied the allegation saying: "The girls were asked to remove only shoes and socks. No girl was asked to remove her skirt and shirt."

The parents, after learning about the incident, gathered in the school premises and allegedly thrashed the principal and his staff before complaining to the police.

The principal has lodged a counter-FIR against 10 people for the alleged assault.