Sukuna Secondary School Accused of Teacher Misconduct

Biratnagar. 'I used to get continuous phone calls around 10:30-11 PM. When I answered, the teacher would say - I have your exam answer sheet, tell me how many marks you need? Send me about 50 of your photos and answer the video call.'

This experience, which a former student of Sukuna Secondary School in Sundarharaicha, Morang, faced in the past, has now reached the investigation stage through social media. The incident, where obscene and indecent demands were made by a teacher by luring her with extra marks in the exam while she was studying in class 11, had been suppressed for years due to fear and social stigma.

However, the student has now broken her silence through social media. She has made public the series of physical and mental abuse she and her friends faced within the school, bringing the student abuse case at Sukuna Secondary School to the surface.

Based on this serious allegation, the police immediately took action, arresting two teachers and a driver from the school and starting an investigation. A joint team from the District Police Office, Morang, and the Area Police Office, Belbari, took into custody the school's driver, 40-year-old Pradip Bhattarai, and teachers, 30-year-old Kishorlal Gachchhadar and 35-year-old Abiral Maskey, on Monday morning.

According to the audio and message screenshots made public by the victimized students on social media, the students had been feeling unsafe within the school for a long time. 'That Neel sir is also a first-class guy. He would just come to touch my hands and caress my cheeks, saying you're wearing makeup,' another victim student shared her pain, 'I used to tell him not to touch me, not to do this, but that sir's gaze was different.'

Another student mentioned that teachers would wait for them on the way to and from school and tease them with indecent words like 'baby, darling'. Complaints have also surfaced that teachers would make obscene remarks to some students, saying, 'You look very mature for your age.'

'I am haunted by why I didn't speak up at that time,' said one student, 'When I remember everything that sir did, I feel so uncomfortable that I cannot express it in words.'

The reason this serious issue came to light was a protest program against the school's fee hike. Students started a protest by creating a group on Facebook against the school charging Rs 3,700 for transcripts.

However, the school administration threatened to identify the group operators and take action under cybercrime to suppress the students' legitimate voices. This threatening behavior from the administration further angered the students. When their right to voice was sought to be suppressed, the angered female students began to publicly share screenshots and voice clips of indecent messages sent by teachers and staff in the same group as evidence. Thus, a simple protest program became a medium to expose a serious moral and legal crime within the school.

The female students had previously alerted the school administration about such misconduct verbally and in writing. When some students complained directly to the principal and other teachers, they were reportedly given irresponsible answers like 'If they do that, slap them'. Since the school administration did not take any strict departmental action against the perpetrators, the female students had to take their own safety into their hands.

School Principal Hikmat Bahadur Basnet admitted that two anonymous complaint emails had been received in the school's official email some time ago. 'Two emails were received,' said Principal Basnet, 'But since the teachers were not identified, I gathered all the staff and inquired about it. At that time, nothing was revealed by anyone.'

Morang Police Information Officer and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Makendra Kumar Mishra informed that the investigation process is being carried out seriously as the issue of sexual abuse against female students is very sensitive. 'To prevent any further unrest or untoward incidents at the school, we have taken three accused into custody,' said DSP Mishra, 'The truth of the incident will be revealed through further investigation and evidence collection.'

Meanwhile, Ganesh Raj Karki, Chief Administrative Officer of Sundarharaicha Municipality, has directed the school management in writing to immediately suspend the accused teachers and staff, proceed with the legal action according to the prevailing law, and fully cooperate with the police investigation.

Student's statement as is

What to say, this Abiral sir must also be jailed. He has done this to me... When I was in class 11, I think it was my account exam. And in the final exam of class 11, that sir was present. And he used to come near in the class. At that time, I didn't feel anything, I was busy with my exam. And then randomly, he kept calling around 10:30-11 PM. And when I asked why he was calling? Then he said, 'I have your paper, tell me how many marks you need?' Then, 'Send me about 50 of your photos, and then answer the video call.' He said things like that. And I was completely frozen!

And I said, 'Aren't you ashamed? I'll tell your wife,' I said, right? He started saying things like, 'She knows everything, do whatever you want.' I took a screenshot, I had an Android phone at that time. And I had sent it to my friends too. But I don't have that account now, and I don't have that phone either, that's the main thing, otherwise, I might have made this video and posted it earlier. Since there was no proof, I could never speak up.

And whoever has experienced this, right, I don't think anyone else is involved besides Abiral. Maybe, right, it's been a long time since I left. At that time, we had also informed the office. We went to the office and informed them, because one of my friends, he used to do that to her, touch her. And when we went to the office, what they said was, 'If they do that, slap them, and stand up,' they said. But that kind of reaction never came from the office. And at that time, I don't know which sir we told, we told him directly, and at that time, no one was serious. And what we thought was, 'Oh okay, they won't stand up for us... meaning in our favor,' and we stopped talking about it. We stopped talking about it, and instead, we started protecting ourselves, that's what we started doing later.

But the main thing is, even if there is no proof now, no one will say anything. Especially in a woman's case, right, they always make the man seem right. And because I didn't have proof, I stepped back. At the moment, right, but in the future, when all the proofs come out, I won't stay silent, you don't even have to tell me.

Another student's statement:

He did that to me. If he was walking on one path, I would walk on another. He said such things to me, I can't explain those things, how I felt at that time, right. At that time, I was scared, I was scared that my reputation would be ruined at school, so I didn't tell anyone, right. But now I will tell everyone, this Abiral fellow, he is like this, I will tell everyone now, I swear.

And what he said was, right, you look mature for your age, your...' he said something like that to me. And he even asked me for, you know, my rate, you know, how... I can't say, how can I say, I don't have the courage, I feel like my reputation will be ruined. When I remember everything that sir did at that time, I feel so uncomfortable, I feel so...

Another student's statement:

That Neel sir is also a first-class guy. He would just come to touch my hands and caress my cheeks. Saying you're wearing makeup. And I used to tell him not to touch me, not to do this, but that sir's gaze was different. How he used to look, I couldn't even make eye contact with that sir. That sir was like that.

Abiral used to wait for my friend on the road calling her baby darling. We were new admissions in class 11. He used to teach us accounts then, he only taught us in class 12. I told my friend - let's go and tell the principal, he said this and that, is this how a teacher should talk? We told her. She said, 'Leave it, leave it,' and we left it at that time.

Another student's statement:

Okay, I was towards the end of class 11 final. And I won't name that teacher right now, but in the future, if that teacher is exposed, then I will say it out loud. And about that teacher, in Sukuna, if you ask any girl from the previous batch or the current batch, anyone, they will say, I also went through that with that sir, they will say. I am that confident about that.

And it happened, I have been studying in Sukuna since class 8, and it started from class 9. And, you know, teasing a bit, touching the cheek, and saying 'how soft your cheek is...' The teacher would say that! And whenever that sir came, I would always back out and walk a different way.

This too

Three arrested including two teachers for sending obscene messages to female student