Man held after city hostel girl found pregnant

Bhubaneswar: Police here on Monday arrested a man after the father of a 13-year-old student named him as the one who made her pregnant. The tribal girl was one of the four students from a government-run SC/ST residential school who tested positive for pregnancy during a health screening test on Saturday.
The other three girls tested negative when all four of them were brought to a city hospital for patho-lab tests on Monday. On Saturday, they had undergone kit-based screening tests that found them pregnant. Screening tests had been carried out in government hostels as part of Centre’s Rastriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.
In her statement, the girl said during the summer vacation, she had gone back to her parents who live in a slum. She alleged that during the Raja (puberty) festival, the accused lured and sexually assaulted her twice.
ST and SC development minister Jagannath Sarka said, “Investigation is on and the guilty will be punished once we get the probe report.”
DCP Anup Kumar Sahu said, “The person named by the girl has been arrested from a city slum.” Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairman Parshuram Maharana added, “A committee comprising the district welfare officer, the district child protection officer and police will investigate the matter and prepare a report soon.”
This is the first time that a city-based hostel has reported teen pregnancy. Earlier, such incidents were reported only from the districts. Students from government hostels undergo screening tests before and after the summer vacation.
Since 2014, altogether 17 student pregnancy cases have been reported from government-run tribal hostels. Four girls have become mothers over the past five years.
There are 1,670 ashram schools and 6,000 tribal hostels in the state. For the safety and security of boarders, the state government has set guidelines for mess and hostel management and has installed CCTVs in many hostels.