INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The accused likely to be released today, as no one may lodge FIR against him
Lalitpur, February 17
A teacher of a Lalitpur-based community
school who has been accused of sexually molesting 26 girls of grades III, IV and V is likely to get off scot-free as the school management
committee is undecided whether or not to formally press charges against him.
The letter 19 girls of Shree Narayan Basic School addressed to
the school principal, accusing their teacher of molestation
Photo: THT
Nanda Prasad Niraula, a social studies teacher at Shree Narayan Basic School in Mahalaxmi Municipality of Lalitpur, was taken
into police custody on Saturday evening after an unidentified person gave a tip-off about his deplorable behaviour
The tip-off was given based on a letter signed jointly by 26 students, who accused their teacher of molesting them in the school
But by Sunday evening Niraula was released from the police custody as no one had lodged a formal complaint.
&Without formal complaint, court
will not give us permission to keep the accused in custody for more than 24 hours
Since neither the school administration nor the girls& parents have filed a complaint we are in a limbo,& said Deputy Superintendent of
Police Mitra Bandhu Sharma.
Niraula was released yesterday on condition that he present himself at Metropolitan Police Circle, Satdobato, on
When he arrived at the police station today, he was again rounded up
But he may be released tomorrow, as no one is likely to formally lodge a complaint.
Yesterday, Sabita Silwal, the school principal, had told
THT that she would file a first information report against Niraula today
This morning she told THT that she was heading towards the police station, but after attending a meeting called by the school management
committee she changed her mind.
She then told THT, &I can no longer talk about this issue, as the school management committee has decided to
resolve this issue internally and has kept me away from the case.&
Nakul Thapa, a member of the school management committee and also the
ward chair, said a decision on whether to engage police in this case would be taken after conducting an internal investigation
He, however, did not say how long it would take to complete the investigation.
Parents of a few students that THT talked to, on the other
hand, said they were yet to come to grips with the issue.
Girls, who have accused Niraula of sexual molestation, are aged nine to 13
They all live in Tikathali area of Lalitpur
THT has obtained a copy of the letter written by them to the principal
Initially, THT had said only 19 girls had signed the letter based on the number of signatures seen on the front side of the letter
Today, the girls told THT that seven girls had put their signatures on the back of the page.
The girls had written the letter after one of
the girls of Grade III remained absent from the school for a day after facing sexual harassment from Niraula
The Grade III girl told her sister enrolled in Grade V about the incident.
&Then one day during lunch break all the victims of sexual
molestation met and drafted the letter
We rewrote the letter two or three times before finalising it
We dropped it in the school letter box
But no one picked the letter from the box for hours
So we handed it over to the student council head, who gave it the principal,& said an 11-year-old girl, who was also victimised by
Niraula.
These girls had mustered courage to speak up against their teacher as they were told about ‘good touch and bad touch& during a
social awareness programme in their municipality on February 10.
&Nandu sir used to sit close and caress our bodies, especially our chest
and legs, on the pretext of teaching us how to write properly,& a Grade V student told THT
Niraula, according to students, never scolded or raised his voice at female students
But they were even more afraid of him than teachers who were strict disciplinarians
&His touch would send a tingling sensation down the spine, which felt very uncomfortable,& said another 11-year-old girl.
The post Justice
likely to elude children allegedly molested by their school teacher appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
