UP: Chargesheet against principal in school girl murder case

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the death of a 16-year-old school girl who was allegedly raped and found hanging in a prayer room in the school in 2019, has filed a 2,000-page charge sheet against the former principal of the residential school.

Special public prosecutor (POCSO) Anoop Yadav said: "The charge sheet was filed in the court of additional district judge (POCSO) against the former principal, Sushma Sagar, under IPC section 306 (abetment of suicide), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence, giving false information) and provisions of the POCSO Act."

While details of the charge sheet were not known immediately, sources in the special public prosecutor office said that the SIT had found in the principal's office, some letters written by the victim, mentioning instances of "homosexuality" in the school.

The letters were neither submitted to police nor the court by Sagar. The victim's family was also kept in the dark about them.

The girl's father had said that while an FIR was filed against the former principal and others, those named in the FIR were not arrested.

Last year in September, a new six-member SIT was formed after the Allahabad high court directed the state government and UP police for a progress report on the case within a month.

It came after the victim's family had approached the high court in August 2020, following which an FIR was filed against Sagar, the hostel warden and a fellow student under POCSO Act and IPC section 376 (rape) and 302 (murder) based on the family's complaint.

In December, the state government had submitted the DNA analysis report of all the suspects in the court, stating that none of them matched with the samples found on the victim's body.