Principal of blind school in UP arrested for sodomising students

Principal S K Katiyar, himself visually impaired, allegedly assaulted his students for more than a year. The “victims” are said to have been too scared to speak up. Some who protested were brutally assaulted, even expelled.

There are 35 students — all between 12 to 17 years — in the schoolwhich also offers them room and board. Ironically, the nightmarish ordeal of the students became public almost by accident.

When Minister of State for Power Vivek Kumar Singh, MLA from Banda, visited the school on Sunday, the principal was on leave so the students mustered up the courage to talk.

Singh promptly called up the SDM and got the boys’ statements recorded. Later, they were sent for medical examination which confirmed that they were sodomised. Most of the students are from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar and have been virtually dumped by their families who see them more as a burden than anything else.

“The students had complained to their parents but they just evaded the issue and advised them to bring the facts to the notice of the school warden,” said V K Singh, SP, Banda, who set up a special team to track down the principal in Lucknow.

“When they came to me, they were crying and unable to speak. I will take their plight to the Chief Minister and have advised that the school should now be shifted to a crowded locality within the city limits, not in the desolate place where it is right now,” said the Minister.