Village guns for principal on run

Tribals from Berwal village in Trimbakeshwar tehsil of Nashik have demanded criminal proceedings against the principal of Berwal ashram scho...

Tribals from Berwal village in Trimbakeshwar tehsil of Nashik have demanded criminal proceedings against the principal of Berwal ashram school for “sexual exploitation” of girl students. They have submitted a memorandum to the Tribal Development Commissionerate to this effect.

The memorandum pointed out that the officials of the Shree Gadage Maharaj Mission, which runs the school, had failed to take action against principal Nagorao Nagose even a month after he was found ‘‘molesting’’ the girls. It further pointed out that instead of initiating legal action against him, they chose to retire him voluntarily. The villagers have also demanded medical examination of all the girls studying in the ashram.

It said in the school, boys and girls don’t have separate bathrooms, toilets or dormitories. It also pointed out that the school does not conduct regular medical check-ups and there’s no interaction between parents and teachers.

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Former president of the Nashik Zilla Parishad, Pandurang Raut, told The Indian Express that if their demands were not met, they would launch an agitation. Minister for Tribal Welfare Madhukar Pichad has summoned officials to Nagpur to discuss the issue.

Nagose was hounded out after he was found misbehaving with class VII girls. Five girls accused him of calling them to his room for cooking, washing, etc., and beating them up for disobeying him. He confessed to his ‘‘mistake’’ and the mission asked him to retire voluntarily. Though the girls did not allege sexual harassment, some boys studying in the same school claimed they had seen Nagose with two girls in his room on September 19.

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