Girl students hold school principal hostage in Delhi, five held

A group of 50 girl students and some of their parents on Tuesday allegedly held the principal of a Delhi government school hostage for over two hours accusing her of failing them "deliberately" in supplementary examinations, police said. Five people -- all family members of the students -- were arrested.

Police had to baton-charge to disperse the students and free the principal.

According to police, the two-hour-long protest by the girl students began around noon on Tuesday after a few girls of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Yamuna Vihar area of east Delhi found they had failed in their supplementary examinations.

They allegedly held the principal hostage accusing the teachers of giving them low marks.

The protest later turned violent after the students allegedly started pelting stones at the principal's office and at her vehicle.

The police then lathicharged the protestors and arrested five people belonging to the families of the students on charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code following a complaint by the school principal.

"The police arrested five persons, including three men and two women, for attacking the principal's office and damaging property," a senior police officer told IANS.

"First we tried to convince the students to end their protest but they remained adamant... we had to then use mild force to disperse the agitating students who attacked the principal's office and her vehicle," the officer added.

The students alleged that the teachers didn't do fair marking and failed the students deliberately.

A 16-year-old student of Class 9, requesting anonymity, told IANS: "The teachers have failed us in three to four subjects. And this is not new here and it is going on since the last two years."

"Today (Tuesday) we tried to complain about the same to our principal Kanchan Jain, but she locked herself in her office and made a false complaint about us of holding her hostage," she alleged.

"We demanded that the school principal see our papers which she didn't," she said.

--IANS

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