KATHMANDU, June 5: A teacher at St Lawrence College of Chabahil was accused of sexually harassing a female student on May 24. Less than two weeks later, another incident of a similar nature was made public in the capital on Saturday.
The female students living in the hostel of Sarbanam School in Jorpati, Kathmandu have accused their warden of sexual harassment. The victims accused the hostel warden Ramji Basnet of sexually abusing eight female students living in the dormitory for the past six months.
“The teacher asked students what their weight was and told them he would confirm it himself when the girls answered him. One of the victims said that she was touched by the teacher when she was alone. He used to ask us to sit on his lap and when we refused, the teacher forcefully made us sit and touched us inappropriately,” one of the students said.
She said that many students have also experienced the same behavior from the teacher. “But, we couldn’t tell anyone else out of fear, '' she said. On Thursday, the students met the principal of the school Durganath Shivakoti and the teachers and informed them about the incident. However, no initiative was taken by the principal Shivakoti.
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The principal had said that It will be a disgrace to the school if the issue is made public. The victim said that she was forced to remain silent, saying the students will be humiliated if the school received a bad name. The students said that instead of taking action against the accused warden, they were the ones being threatened. The student shared that the warden would come to the room at night and threaten to humiliate or rusticate them from the school if they tried to reveal the incidents to their families or anyone else.
One of the students said that she was beaten up by an iron pipe under various excuses by the warden. One of the victims had informed her parents at home but received no response from Principal Shivakoti when the parents approached him for answers. The relatives of the victim say that they started a protest after the principal did not respond.
On Saturday, the relatives of the victims staged a protest outside the school premises and demanded action against the school. “We admitted our niece to this school four years ago as the principal was one of our relatives,” one of the students' uncles said. “Over a year and a half ago, our niece told us that she did not want to stay at the school. We refused her request and did not even bother to ask the reason behind it. Now we know what the reason for her request to change the school was. My niece also did not say anything to us,” he said. “After much pressure, she shared the incident with her sister, which is the reason why we have come here today,” he added.
He said that eight girls from Grades 3 to 10 were sexually abused by the warden, ranging from nine to 14 years old.
“If the principal has no involvement in the harassment, why didn't he take any action but rather threatened the students when they approached him with their problems,” one of the relatives questioned.
A team from the Metropolitan Police Circle Bauddha took the principal and his wife in custody to prevent the situation from flaring up further and conduct necessary inquiries, as tension continued to increase outside the school.
“We have taken Principal Shivakoti and his wife into custody for questioning and security reasons,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dundiraj Neupane said. According to him, the three girls were preparing to file the complaint at the time this report was being made.
Accused Basnet, on the other hand, was absconding after protests broke outside the school. However, DSP Neupane said that he has been arrested from his home district Ramechhap with the help of Ramechhap police.
