Hyderabad: Class 9 student delivers baby girl in school washroom; headmaster suspended

A 14-year-old girl gave birth in a school washroom in Hyderabad on Saturday. The student of a government high school went to the washroom after complaining of stomach pain while sitting in the classroom on Saturday, Malkajgiri’s Deputy Educational Officer (DEO) A Usha Rani said. Her classmate reported that the girl had delivered a child, according to a NDTV report. The incident occurred in Madhapur, a suburb in Hyderabad and the girl was said to be ’tribal’, according to a report by IBNLive. “After sometime the students and teachers heard cries of a newborn baby and were shocked to find the girl with the baby. Both the mother and the baby girl were handed over to police,” the DEO said, adding, even the girl’s friends said they did not notice her swelled abdomen. However, a  DNA report claimed that the parents were fully aware of the condition of their daughter but had chosen to keep quiet, owing to the ‘stigma’. [caption id=“attachment_2528064” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] The newspaper also quoted a member of the teaching staff saying, “She is very slim and would walk with a dupatta on her stomach and she would sit with her bag on her lap, so we didn’t know.” The girl’s classmates however had stated that the girl was not interested in playing and was beginning to be aloof. The Madhapur police has registered a case under the sections of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 or Nirbhaya Act and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), following a complaint from the girl’s father, reports   The New Indian Express. Police have also said it was a completely normal delivery where the girl and her baby are being cared for in a local hospital. According to Madhapur police inspector, K Narasimhulu, the father claims that he was unaware about his child’s pregnancy and the police has identified Dinesh, a canteen worker near the girl’s house near Chandanayak Tanda, as the one responsible for the pregnancy, continues the report. The headmaster of the school, Basavalingam, who is also the Mandal education officer, claimed that the parents did not visit the school even after coming to know of the incident. In a contradictory statement, the inspector is quoted by  The New Indian Express as saying, “The girl has no mother and the father has claimed ignorance just like the school authorities. We have a suspect who is known to the girl. We are investigating.” Ranga Reddy district education officer G Ramesh said that based on the primary investigation, the headmaster was found to be at fault and suspended on orders from regional joint director of school education (Hyderabad) Krishna Rao. All teachers who are teaching Class 9 students have been asked to give a written explanation, said the  The New Indian Express report. The State Council for Protection of Child Rights took up a suo motu case and directed the education and woman & child welfare departments to submit report by 15 December. Bangalore Mirror has reported that a similar incident had occurred in the Nizamabad district in July when a class 10 student gave birth to a baby boy in the toilet and threw it into the fields through the toilet window. With inputs from PTI