A 14-year-old girl belonging to the Scheduled Caste was allegedly gangraped by four of her classmates in Bihar’s Kaimur district and then she was sexually assaulted by her principal who reached the crime spot after hearing her cries.

The crime took place in the Pipra area of the district on Saturday evening when the girl had gone out of her village to relieve herself.

Sources in the police said that the boys, all in the age group of 13 to 15 years, were either following the girl or were waiting at some place.

They abducted her and took her to a secluded place where a bus was parked. They dragged her inside the vehicle and raped her.

The sources said Surendra Bhaskar, principal of the government middle school at Pipra, had seen the four boys forcibly taking the girl towards the deserted area and was following them.

He heard her cries for help and arrived on the spot.

The boys fled on seeing the principal, after which he raped her.

The girl with injuries and bruises reached home and told her mother about the incident. Her family members took her to the women’s police station at Bhabhua and filed a complaint against the four boys and the school principal.

“We registered an FIR under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. School principal Bhaskar was arrested on Sunday and has been sent to jail,” Kaimur superintendent of police (SP) Rakesh Kumar told The Telegraph.

Kumar said that the four boys have also been apprehended and will be produced before the juvenile justice board.

“We are also planning to record the statement of the girl before a magistrate,” he added. The girl is undergoing treatment at Bhabhua Sadar Hospital.