The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that six girl students, belonging to the Scheduled Tribe, were bitten by a snake in a hostel of an Ashram school in Gadchiroli district on Friday. Reportedly, they were sleeping on the floor inside their hostel room due to lack of cots. Three of the victim students succumbed to the snake-bite, while the remaining three were undergoing treatment at a hospital. The Commission has observed that the contents of the news report, if true, raise serious issues of violation of human rights. Therefore, it has issued a notice to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary, calling for a detailed report on the matter within two weeks. The report is expected to include the health status of the injured girl students. According to the media report, carried on August 11, 79 girl students are accommodated in a single room of the hostel. The hostel, which has been functional for the last 25 years, lacks basic facilities. Every year, the district reports a significant number of snake bite cases.

 

 

Ambadas Danve, Shiv Sena leader and former Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, has alleged that the Government is trying to protect officers of the tribal development in the Japtalai Ashram School snake-bite case. Levelling allegations that both the school management and the Tribal Development Department are responsible for the deaths of three female students due to snake bites at the Ashram School, Danve questioned why no action was yet taken against officers. “This shows government is shielding them,” he alleged. On tour of the district, Danve visited the Ashram School and inspected the situation there. A large pile of wood was lying adjacent to the hostel. Danve expressed the possibility that the snake may have come from woodpile and bit the students. The hostel also lacked cots and mosquito nets for the students. Danve pointed out that despite the large number of girls residing there, there were only six bathrooms and four toilets available. Danve stated that parents have demanded the school should remain open - providing safe and quality facilities - rather than being shut down, arguing that the decision taken by the Chief Minister and the administration to close the Ashram School following the incident was inappropriate. Danve also visited the district hospital and enquired after the health of the girls undergoing treatment there.

 

 

Two students Kavita Kirange and Deepika Madavi who got admitted in hospital after the snake-bite incident in Ashram School in Gadchiroli district on Friday. The doctors took this decision after their health improved, informed Aayushi Singh, Additional Commissioner, Tribal Development Department on Friday. Kavita Kirange, whose treatment was underway in district general hospital in Gadchiroli, was discharged at 1.30 pm on Friday and the administration safely took her to her residence in Medhari village in Etapalli taluka. Similarly, Deepika Madavi, whose treatment was underway in Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Nagpur, has also been discharged and she was also taken to her village in Dhanora taluka by the administration. Meanwhile, the third student Samruddhi Suresh Naitam, who is undergoing treatment in Gadchiroli, is also responding and she is in constant medical observation.