| Money, threats, silence: Efforts to bury Chatroo child's death spark outrage | | | Atul Sharma
Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 22: Even as Chatroo Police have registered an FIR and arrested two persons in the horrific case of a Class 5th tribal girl who died after being repeatedly sexually assaulted by her school headmaster, a fresh storm is now brewing over who tried to bury the story — and why.
The Tribal Gujjar Bakkarwal Welfare Foundation has come out swinging, demanding accountability not just for the accused but for those who allegedly moved to silence the victim's family. The forum, which works for the welfare and cultural preservation of the Gujjar-Bakarwal community, says it is deeply alarmed by mounting media reports that the accused come from an influential background — and that threats, pressure and money were dangled before the child's economically vulnerable nomadic family to make the case disappear.
Dr Naseeb Ali, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and head of the Foundation, has demanded the Police and Civil Administration step in immediately to guarantee the safety of the victim's family and material witnesses — and to make sure no one, however powerful or politically connected, is allowed to derail the investigation, intimidate witnesses or obstruct justice.
What makes the case even more disturbing, the Foundation said, is that one of the accused was reportedly the child's own teacher — someone entrusted with her safety and guidance. A teacher's sexual exploitation of a child in his care, the forum said, is a grave betrayal of trust that demands the harshest response the law allows.
With one of the accused identified as a teacher at the school the victim attended, the Foundation has urged the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the local Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Police and other child-protection authorities to take up the matter formally. It wants a sensitive, thorough inquiry to determine whether any other children at the school may have suffered abuse or inappropriate conduct — with immediate action if such evidence surfaces.
Looking beyond this single case, the Foundation has also pressed the NCPCR, CWCs and local administration to put in place regular child-safety audits, awareness drives and confidential counselling and outreach programmes across schools and other institutions — formal or informal — where children learn or remain under adult supervision. |
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