Rayagada, Odisha:
A Class 3 student from Odisha’s Rayagada district was allegedly raped by a person at the school where she studies, leading to angry locals torching a police vehicle, police said on Saturday.
The alleged rape of the eight-year-old Dalit girl took place at an ashram school in Dangasil village on Friday, a senior police official said.
The locals were angry with the police for taking the peony from them and setting the vehicle on fire. They also destroyed a police jeep.
It prompted police to use their batons to disperse the crowd and detain some persons for their alleged involvement in the violence, the police official added.
“Shortly after the incident, we arrested the suspect and initiated an investigation. Strong action will be taken against the people who vandalized the police vehicles,” Rayagada Superintendent of Police Vivekanand Sharma said.
The victim is a day student at the school run by the Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) development wing of the Odisha government.
The condition of the victim, who was admitted to a hospital, is stable, the police official said.
He said the suspect lured the girl to an empty room of the school on Friday when she was on her way to the school after lunch at her home and raped her. The girl’s friends informed the school principal and her mother after they saw her bleeding profusely and crying in pain.
As news of the incident spread, locals gathered in front of the police post in Dongasil and demanded that the school authorities hand over the suspects to them. As the police failed to meet their repeated demands, the angry mob set fire to the police van and destroyed a jeep.
The official said five police platoons (one platoon comprising 30 men) led by the Additional Superintendent of Police of Rayagada are camping near the school as the situation is still tense.
For fear of arrests, almost all male residents have fled the village.
The accused person has been suspended and the school principal has been given a show cause notice, an official said.
Rayagada Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairman Bidulata Huika has expressed serious concern over the incident. She, along with a team of CWC members, met the victim and her mother at Rayagada government hospital.
The team assured them of justice.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)