New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission has rapped the Uttar Pradesh government over the strip search of 70 girls at a government residential school in Muzaffarnagar last year.
It has issued a notice to the chief secretary asking him to explain why a compensation of Rs 25,000 should not be awarded to each of the girls, and directing him to arrange for their counselling.
It has also summoned the principal secretary to the state education department on August 24, asking the official to come with a report and explain what action the government has taken.
According to a petition moved by rights activist and Supreme Court lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy, the school's female warden had strip-searched the girls to check for menstrual blood. She had apparently been angered by drops of blood she had seen in the school bathroom.
The girls have alleged they were made to sit naked in the classroom during the search. The parents of the victims had lodged a complaint against the warden.
Thirty-five of the 70 girls have left the Kasturba Gandhi Residential School, Tigai, Muzaffarnagar.
According to Tripathy, the report of the district primary education officer had indicted the warden but the education department had taken no effective steps against her. Tripathy has sought legal action against the wrongdoers and compensation for the victims.
The commission observed that the allegations against the warden had been substantiated during the investigation and a chargesheet had therefore been filed against her.
It said the strip search amounted to physical torture and a violation of the girls' human rights.