Death for former Arunachal school hostel warden for sexually assaulting 21 children

The children reportedly suffered sexual abuse until a pair of sisters contacted their parents in November 2022

A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Arunachal Pradesh handed the death sentence to the former warden of a government residential school for sexually assaulting 21 children, including 15 girls, in Shi-Yomi district between 2019 and 2022.

Bagra’s co-convicts in the case, former headmaster Singtung Yorpen and Hindi teacher Marbom Ngomdir Tapir, were each handed 20-year jail terms. Two other accused, Daniel Pertin and Tajung Yorpen, were acquitted. According to reports, the children—15 girls and six boys, aged 6 to 12 years, and from Classes 1-5—were sexually assaulted and molested by Bagra and others.

The investigation was initially led by the police teams of Shi-Yomi and West Siang districts, and later taken over by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Arunachal Pradesh government.

The children reportedly suffered sexual abuse until a pair of sisters contacted their parents in November 2022 about being assaulted by Bagra, according to Times of India. An FIR was lodged at a police station in Shi-Yomi district, leading to Bagra’s arrest. The SIT investigation found that there were six cases of rape, nine cases of molestation, and six other cases of sexual harassment.

According to TOI, when a district court accepted the former warden’s plea for bail in July 2023, Gauhati High Court took suo motu cognisance and quashed the order. Bagra has been in custody since then. The other two convicts, Yorpen and Tapir, were arrested after Thursday’s verdict. While cancelling Bagra’s bail, HC cited details of the crime in the chargesheet.

“A perusal of the chargesheet, which contains brief references to the statements of the victims, reflects that the accused warden forced the children staying as boarders in the hostel to watch pornographic movies and repeatedly subjected them to sexual assault. Medical reports of most victims corroborates the fact that they were sexually assaulted,” court said as quoted by TOI. The Pocso court’s judgment will be sent to Gauhati HC for confirmation.