College manager booked for ill-treating girl students

LUCKNOW - The manager of a degree college here and his son have been booked for harassing a group of girl students during a study tour, police said Tuesday.

Even as a criminal case pertaining to obscene acts, criminal intimidation and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the manager of Swatantra Girls’ Degree College and his son on the complaint made by students and their families, the manager denied the allegations by the girl.

According to police, several students alleged that on a number of occasions they were subjected to “inhumane treatment” at the behest of the college manager Dinesh Tiwari and his son, who also accompanied them along with the college teachers.

“The charges against the college manager and his son are serious in nature. We have initiated an enquiry into the case,” police inspector Virendra Kumar told reporters here.

“Acting on the complaint of the girl students, we have registered the case under various sections, including 294 (obscene acts), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 504 (intentional insult). Necessary action would definitely be taken against the college management on the completion of the enquiry,” he added.

According to police, the batch of around 150 girls pursuing B.Ed left Lucknow Jan 28 for the study tour. Students alleged that the college administration had assured to take them to several places in Rajasthan, but their tour was cut short and they were made to return from Agra. They demanded their money back.

Students claimed that despite charging a hefty fee of Rs.5,000 per head, they were not provided proper living conditions. “Some of the students were not even given any medicines when they fell ill during the tour. Food was also not given to them properly,” the brother of a girl student told reporters.

“We are quite sure that the money collected by the students was used by the manager and his family who were moving in a separate car during the entire tour,” a student alleged.

Contacted for his version, Tiwari told IANS: “Yes, the tour was cut short, but it was all owing to security reasons… I got a call on my cellphone and was threatened to return back to Lucknow else the college students will be targeted. I had even informed the police in this regard.”

“Other charges made by the students are baseless,” said Tiwari, who declined to say anything more.

Meanwhile, the administration of the Lucknow University, to which the college is affiliated, has sought an explanation from the college authorities.

“Though the matter is being probed by police, we too have sought a reply from the college administration over the entire episode,” the university’s official spokesperson S.K. Dwivedi told IANS.