Baripada: A teenage boy of a state-run residential school in Mayurbhanj district was apprehended and sent to a juvenile home after one of her classmates, who is in her advanced stage of pregnancy, accused him of raping her, officials said Friday.
The headmistress of the school lodged a complaint with the police Wednesday after noticing that the tribal girl, a Class VI student, is pregnant, a police officer said.
The 14-year-old girl was then taken for examination to a local hospital here, and was found to be carrying a six-month-old foetus, the officer said.
“In her statement, she accused the boy, who is of the same age as her, of raping her,” he said.
Reports said the two were allegedly in a relationship and maintained physical intimacy. School authorities began suspecting after the Class VI girl complained of frequent vomiting and ill health.
Later, the school headmistress admitted her to Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital in Baripada. During treatment, the doctors found that the girl was six months pregnant after which the school authorities lodged an FIR at the police station.
The boy was produced Thursday before a member of the District Juvenile Board, who sent him to an observation home in Angul district, around 315 km from here, he added.
“After registering the case, we arrested the juvenile and sent him for medical examination. Further investigation is underway,” informed Inspector-in-Charge of Morada police station Yogendra Kumar Mallick.The minor girl is reportedly undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The incident comes less than a month after two more reports of teenage pregnancies rocked the state.
In Dhenkanal district, a Class VIII student of a tribal residential school was found to be pregnant last month, while another student in Kalahandi district was admitted to a hospital after she was suspected to have consumed abortion pills.
PNN