21 school students sexually assaulted by hostel warden in Arunachal Pradesh, Gauhati HC takes up the matter suo motu

Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court on Friday took suo motu cognizance of a case of sexual exploitation of 21 students in the age group of 6 to 12 years by the hostel warden of a residential school in Arunachal Pradesh. Yumken Bagra, the hostel warden of Government Residential School in Karo village of Monigong in Shi Yomi district, is out on bail granted by the special POCSO court. Taking suo motu cognizance on the basis of media reports, the bench of Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta registered the case for cancellation of bail application.

The court order states that Bagra is alleged to have sexually assaulted 21 children (15 girls and 6 boys) in the age group of 6 to 12 years between 2019 and 2022 and this court is compelled to register suo motu the bail application for cancellation. It added that the medical reports of most of the victims corroborate the fact that they were sexually assaulted as marks of violence were observed on their private parts.

However, a perusal of the February 23 bail order revealed that the special POCSO court flagrantly disregarded this mandatory provision of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012 (POCSO Act), and asked the Advocate General of Arunachal Pradesh to direct the Director General of Police to take complete security measures for all victims and their family members.

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“Absolutely flimsy reasons were given by the Special Court for granting bail to the accused, being the hostel warden, he was entrusted with the duty of ensuring the safety of the children lodged in the hostel, but he acted in a monstrous manner and sexually assaulted minor children over a period of about 3 years and also exposed them to obscene material. The trial of the accused charge-sheeted for such heinous offenses need not wait for the arrest of the absconding accused and proceed separately may be continued,” the HC order said.

The Chief Justice also stated in his order that considering the nature of the order passed by the Special Judge, this Court feels that there is an urgent need to sensitize the Special Judges posted in the POCSO Courts in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam.

He said, the Director, Judicial Academy, Assam would immediately start the process of training and sensitization of all judicial officers dealing with POCSO Act cases in the four states.