UP school warden forces 70 girls to strip, sit naked in class; probe ordered

Muzaffarnagar (UP): 70 girls at a residential school in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar were on Thursday forced to strip by the warden, who also made them sit naked on the classroom floor.

According to reports, the warden was furious about specs of blood on the bathroom floor, and forced the girls to strip to check who was menstruating.

A complaint filed by the parents of the victims said the students of Kasturba Gandhi Residential School at Digri village were also threatened with worse consequences for reporting the matter.

The warden allegedly threatened the students of dire consequences if they disobeyed her command.

The state government has ordered an investigation into the horrifying incident.

Uttar Pradesh Power Minister Shrikant Sharma on Friday condemned the shameful incident and said a probe by the concerned authorities has been initiated.

"We were informed through the media; the concerned officers have been given instruction to carry out the investigation," Sharma said.

"There was no teacher around. We were called downstairs (from the hostel). Madam made us to take off our clothes saying she will beat us if we did not. We are kids, what could we do? She would have beaten us had we not obeyed her," one of the students was quoted as saying by NDTV.

The parents have complained that the warden 'often hits the girls and blackmails them'.

"She forced the girls to take off their clothes. How are we supposed to react? When I read about the incident in the paper, I asked my daughter and she told me the whole story.  She said that even she was made to remove her clothes and the teacher tortured them," a distraught parent was quoted as saying.

District education officer Chandrakesh Yadav said strong action is being taken. He said a 5-member team has been formed to investigate the case, and the warden would be fired soon.

The warden, however, has denied the allegations.

"No one asked them to remove clothes. All this is a conspiracy by the staff because they do not want me to stay here. I had been asked to check whether the staff were performing their duties. I am strict, that is why they hate me," she said.

Meanwhile, 35 students of the school left after the reports of harassment by the warden surfaced.