Alleged rapist Samrat Vishwas (R), minor rape victim (M) and School Principal Anita Mishra (R).
Tue 05 September 2023:
A minor school-going girl was allegedly raped and sexually abused multiple times for 12 months by the son of an school director in Bihar’s Saharsa District. The matter came to light on 23 August when the girl experienced a panic attack in the hostel, and she was found pleading for help in her sleep. Subsequently, she was diagnosed with long-term depression.
The 16-year old has alleged that the school director’s son Samrat Vishwas aka Sumeet Vishwas was supported and guarded by the school Principal Anita Mishra while he used to assault her in one of the school’s classrooms.
School School director’s son Samrat Vishwas aka Sumeet Vishwas.
Anita Mishra would bring the girl into the classroom or library, turn off the lights, and lock the door from the outside. Meanwhile, Vishwas, who was already inside the room, would sexually assault the girl, with Mishra standing guard outside, according to the survivor and her kin.
School Principal Anita Mishra.
The minor girl, currently grappling with severe anxiety and depression, was at Shanti Niketan Shikshan Sansthan. These distressing events began in 2017 when she was in the 6th grade, persisting until she transferred to different schools in 2019.
The survivor explaining the entire ordeal to Maktoob said: “It happened for the first time when I was in 6th class in 2017. Anita Madam called me in the empty classroom, went outside and locked the room from outside while Samrat Vishwas was already in the room and started touching me inappropriately. At first, I didn’t understand what he was doing with me but later he undressed me and raped me.”
“He was making the video and as I resisted, he threatened me to make my video viral and tell everyone that he raped me. This continued for two years”, she said.
She said that Vishwas used to tell her that nobody would believe her and that her parents would not let her continue her studies if she told them about the sexual assault.
“Anita Madam was supportive and complicit in the heinous crime and she used to do this with other girls too but nobody ever spoke about it, as she and Vishwas used to threaten all of us. I was also scared to discontinue my studies, so I never shared this anything”, the survivor said.
“I used to have abdomen pain and dizziness and other health issues but due to fear, I endured everything on my own”, she said.
As a last resort in 2019, she asked her family members to change her school. They got her enrolled in Eklavya Centre. Currently, she is getting coached for further studies in a private institution and doing her intermediate from a distance learning mode while living in a girls’ hostel in Patna.
On 23 August, she endured a panic attack and was immediately taken to the Nobel Emergency Hospital by the hostel warden where she was admitted. On 24 August, after the diagnosis, she was referred to a psychiatry where the psychiatrist found that she is dealing with severe depression and trauma.
The doctor also informed the family that during the examination, the girl mentioned her sexual exploitation and said that she was raped multiple times during her school days from the year 2017 to 2019.
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The psychiatrist ruled in the examination report that she has exhibited suicidal behavior multiple times. The report was accessed by Maktoob.
The family of the survivor said that in all these years she never talked or shared anything about it.
Munawwar,* the girl’s brother said: “She has been a reserved child always, but I remember that she started being silent and stopped sitting with the family. We were of a superstitious belief such as evil eye, but she never said anything and thought she would be okay.”
He said: “I think it is our carelessness that we never paid attention to her behavior. She asked to change the school; we got her admitted to the other school.”
Munawwar further said, “She kept all of this to herself all these years, we can’t imagine what she went through. But now that she spoke about it, she keeps saying it, sometimes consciously, sometimes in sleep.”
“She keep repeating Madam mujhe jaane do, ese mat karo, bhaiyya chorr do (madam, let me go, don’t do like this, brother let me go). Even after six years she is terrified, she is traumatized for life,” he added.
“Now this has come to us as a shock. Now that we know, we will make sure that Vishwas and Mishra don’t go unpunished,” he said.
Munawwar alleged that Vishwas, Mishra, and other school authorities are collectively involved in ‘human trafficking’ and said that other girls were also victims of sexual exploitation, but nobody is ready to come forward and speak.
On 28 August, based on the complaint filed by the family, the Saharsa Police registered a case under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and 418 of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO). Both the accused Samrat Vishwas and Anita Mishra were arrested by on the same day.
Vishwas was sent to police custody while Mishra was released later and absconded. By the time this report was filed, Munawwar informed Maktoob that Anita Mishra was also arrested again by the Bihar Police from Patna on 4 September.
The family now demands arrest and a lifetime sentence for both the accused.
Many social activists and non-governmental organisations based in Bihar and Sahrasa has been raising concern to investigate the matter and demand justice for the survivor.
Neha Singh Rathore, a social activist said to Maktoob: “This is horrific in multiple ways, all this is happening in a place like a school where innocent children come to learn, in search of education. If things like this will happen in the schools, why do we even need institutions? We should burn these schools.”
“How shameful this is to know that a woman is also involved in this crime against a little girl. Being a woman myself, I feel ashamed to belong to the same community Mishra belongs to. If women can do this to another woman, what should we expect from a majorly patriarchal society?” she added.
Rathore also demanded a fair probe, arrest of both the accused and shutting down of Shanti Niketan Shikshan Sansthan.
She further said: “I suspect that this school is involved in human trafficking and investigation should be done,” said Rathore.
Maktoob was informed that a huge protest march was called by the family of the girl, social activists, civil society, and NGOs on behalf of the girl to demand justice, investigation, and arrest of the culprits in the case for 5 September.
The survivor’s family is urging the administration to establish a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to thoroughly probe the entire situation, including the school management.
They are also demanding the school’s closure and the confiscation of all electronic devices belonging to Vishwas and Mishra due to suspicions of a potential human trafficking scandal masked by the school’s operations.
*Name changed
-Source: Maktoob Media
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