Probe has been ordered against a school principal in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Azamgarh district after he allegedly asked a girl, who was gangraped by two men on her way to school, to not attend classes, reports The Indian Express.

Although the principal denied the allegations and said that he had only asked the girl to stay home until the matter is resolved, the Azamgarh district magistrate has ordered the police to investigate the issue. He also said that he did not have government recognition to run the school and it was a small private coaching centre.

On Thursday (19 September) morning, the girl was kidnapped by two men in an SUV while she was going to her school. The family, alleging that the girl was sexually assaulted, filed an FIR three days later. They were arrested on Monday (23 September) by the local police.

The local village head told The Indian Express, “She was on her way to school Thursday morning when two youths in a SUV forcefully took her. She was sexually assaulted and was left at a secluded place... The girl’s clothes were blood-soaked and she was taken to her school. There, instead of informing the police, the principal called her parents and said he was striking her name from the school records.”

When asked about the issue, SDM Priyanka said the principal has denied that he removed any student from school but failed to provide an attendance register. She also told that the principal had been given an ultimatum to produce all relevant documents, to help investigate if it was just a coaching centre.

A case, on the complaint of the girl’s father, has been registered against the two accused “under IPC sections 376-D (gangrape), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) along with relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act,” told SHO Sher Singh Tomar.