UP: Parents assault daughter over desire to study, face legal heat

Etah (UP), Aug 8 (PTI) A 14-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district has lodged a complaint against her parents for allegedly assaulting her when she expressed her desire to continue her studies, police said on Friday.

The parents -- Digambar Singh and his wife Lata Devi -- are now facing legal action under the Juvenile Justice Act’s Section 75 (punishment for cruelty to child), they said.

According to the police, the incident took place on July 25, and was reported to the Jalesar police station in Etah district on August 5.

Citing a complaint filed by Bhavna Singh, a student of Class 10 at Siddhartha Inter College in Jalesar, the police said, on July 25, the girl had asked her parents to register in the school so that she could appear in the examination.

Her parents declined her request saying that they do not have the money to educate her. When she insisted on educating herself and her younger brother Ramraj, she was beaten up by her father at the home and later on Agra-Jalesar Road during a journey, the police said.

They added that when a passerby, Ankit Pradhan, saw Digambar assaulting the girl, he came to her rescue.

Ankit Pradhan took Bhavna, her brother and their mother to a police check post in Jalesar. From there, suddenly Lata Devi disappeared along with her son, and did not return to the police post even after a long-time, the police said.

The 14-year-old girl also mentioned in her complaint that her father had dialled 112 and gave false information that Ankit Pradhan had kidnapped his wife, they said.

"The fact is that I myself want to study, and also want to make my younger brother educated," the 14-year-old girl said.

"It is my humble request to the Justice Board that proper arrangements be made for my education and that of my brother. And take appropriate legal action against my father Digambar Singh, who beat me and threw me out of the house and my mother Lata who left me alone," she said in her complaint.

A case was registered in Jalesar and the matter has been presented in the Juvenile Justice Protection Board. Despite being summoned several times, the parents did not appear in court. Finally, the court has appointed police station in-charge Sudhir Kumar as the guardian of the girl, they said.

Jalesar SHO Sudhir Kumar said that the girl's father is a peon at Siya Devi Degree College and a habitual drinker and quarrelsome person by nature.

There has been a dispute between the husband and wife for a long time and at present both live separately. Some time ago, the wife had also filed a case of attempt to murder against the husband.

The SHO has taken the responsibility of the girl and has gotten her registered at a school so she can continue her studies and also provided books, uniform and Rs 2,000 cash for any other expenses.

SHO Kumar said after a month, when the girl returns from Noida, then efforts will be made to get her enrolled in a good residential school like Kasturba Gandhi or Sainik Vidyalaya so that she can continue her studies even without her parents. PTI COR NAV NB NB