Two St Xavier’s girls facing harassment in school

Two girl students from the prestigious St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School in North Delhi have been allegedly facing harassment for the last two years. The girls—one in Class 5 and another in Class 7—were allegedly harassed and manhandled by at least four boys from Classes 7 and 8 from the same school while these girl students were boarding their school bus on the last day of the examination. Despite repeated complaints to the school administration, the parents of the girl students have claimed that the school did not take any action. Yogesh Soti, father of the girl students, told The Sunday Guardian that he made repeated complaints to the school, but to no avail. “These four boys have been repeatedly harassing my daughters in the school bus. But this time, on the last day of their term end examination, they had started to physically abuse my daughters.

My elder daughter was beaten up and her dress torn, while my younger daughter was pushed from the stationary bus and later beaten up,” Soti claimed. He further added that he had given repeated complaints to the school’s principal, Father Dominic Arockiam S.J. and Vice Principal K.J. Devasia, who also happens to be the school’s discipline in-charge, but to no avail. “I have given at least five written complaints to the school. I have met the principal twice about the issue. When this incident had happened, I met the vice-principal and had also submitted a written complaint to him. But I have not received any positive response from them. On the other hand, they told me not to take the school transport. The principal told me that he cannot go into every bus and maintain discipline there,” Soti said. However, the school authorities have refused to comment on the issue and when this correspondent contacted the office of the school’s vice-principal, his office said that they were unaware of any such issue and would only comment after verifying the details.