Name of underage rape survivor ‘rejected’ by school, decision now ‘overturned’

(Trigger warning: Contains a description of sexual assault)

“As a father, it hurt so much to hear my daughter telling me on the phone that she was manipulated and then raped. I couldn’t stop crying,” Irfan* told The Quint, almost choking.

Irfan’s* 15-year-old daughter Sara* had a terrible experience of sexual abuse last year. As a result, she was unable to go to school for several days.

In July of this year, school authorities informed her family that she would be expelled from school due to her absence.

The headmistress spoke to my elder daughter. She asked her why Sara* was not going to school. They knew about her case. She told my elder daughter to tell us that Sara*’s name had been removed and we should now get her married.

Irfan*, surviving father of The Quint

However, soon after an FIR was filed and the police started working on the case, the school management reversed its decision.

But why did the school reverse its decision? And what happened to Sara*?

Irfan* described the sequence of events and explained that the main accused in the case, Suhail, was a 21-year-old who lived not far from her home.

Irfan*’s daughters received digital tablets from the school with WhatsApp for updates and messages from the school.

Sara* also used the Instagram app. Irfan* said that Suhail, who is married himself, started courting her there.

The Quint has also accessed the copy of the FIR, which states that Suhail took her to a local park under the pretext of giving tuition. He told Sara* to meet him at a hotel in the area as he wanted to have a “serious conversation”.

Irfan* stated that, although Sara* was a child, she had the impression, based on what she had heard from friends, that “nothing good ever happens in these hotel rooms.”

But Suhail persisted and forced her to come.

The FIR states:

He took me to a hotel in Noida Sector 63 five times and raped me each time. I told him not to do that but I resisted, saying, “usne mujhe kahi ka nahi chodha hain. (He made me useless.)” He raped me several times over the last year on false promises of marriage and blackmailed me with photos and videos he had taken of me, saying he would make them go viral.

Sara*’s statement in the FIR

Irfan* was at work when Sara* called him and told him everything that had happened to her.

With a choked breath, he recalled: “I cried and she cried, because how do you talk to your daughter about something like that? But I told her not to worry and that she could share everything with me.”

The case was filed at Indirapuram police station on July 7. The police have now arrested Suhail and sent him to jail.

Because of her situation, Sara* has not attended school since June 26, the day she told her father about her case. The school reopened on July 1.

He then met the investigating officer in the case, Inspector Kuldeep Kumar, and informed him of the school’s decision.

Kumar called the headmistress and told her that they could simply strike her off the school register and advise the family to marry her off.

The police asked the school principal to meet with the family and find a solution.

The headmistress initially denied it, but then apologized. Last night she came to us and told us that they had not removed her name and that Sara* could continue her education as before. She showed remorse and said that it was all just a warning. But it wasn’t, they specifically said that she had already been expelled from school before.

Irfan*, surviving father of The Quint

Earlier, Ghaziabad District School Inspector Dharmendra Sharma said, “We will also talk to the school and look into the matter. We want to ensure that their education is not affected.”

(*The name of the survivor and her father has been changed and the name of the school has been withheld to protect their identities. The Quint has also reached out to the school’s principal and police. Their response will be added as soon as it arrives.)