Punishing the Victim

School turns out rape victim
ASIAN AGE Oct 7, 2008

Chandigarh

Oct. 6: Apparently unwilling to share the "stigma", a private school in Panchkula near Chandigarh has turned out a young student who reported that she had been gangraped by four boys last month.

Just 17 years of age, the Class 12 girl was allegedly abducted and raped repeatedly by four youngsters who had been blackmailing her for more than a year. The accused included the son of a Haryana government official, three of his friends and a young girl who aided and abetted in the abduction on September 16.

Now right in the midst of her huge ordeal, which is compounded by the Panchkula police’s failure to arrest most of the accused, the young victim has been "punished" by the authorities in her own school.

However, insisting that the girl’s suspension had nothing to do with the fact that she had been gangraped, the school principal said the action against her has been initiated because she was in the habit of "bunking" her classes.

But then, the headmistress also suggested that it may be "advisable" for the girl to stay away from school.