The principal and two staff members of a school in Karnataka's Kolar district were suspended over allegations that some students were made to clean the soak pit in its premises, officials said on Monday.

Based on the complaint filed by the Joint Director of the Social Welfare Department, two separate FIRs were registered on Sunday. The first FIR was in connection with the soak pit incident in which the school principal was arrested while the other one was related to the POCSO Act in which a teacher was arrested, they said.

"The school principal was arrested since it was in her presence that some students were made to allegedly clean the soak pit. In another case, a male teacher was arrested in connection with a POCSO case booked against him," a senior police officer said.

According to officials, as per preliminary inquiry, some students of class 8, 9 and 10 in Morarji Desai School at Yaluvahalli in Malur taluk were allegedly forced to clean a soak pit in the school premises on December one.

However, the matter came to the notice of the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KREIS) and other higher authorities only on Sunday after purported pictures and video of the incident were circulated through social media platforms.

KREIS Executive Director Naveen Kumar Raju told PTI that a probe committee has been formed for a detailed inquiry. This panel will visit the spot and submit a detailed inquiry report within a week. Based on the report, further course of action would be taken.

Three staff members – Principal, warden and an outsourced staff who allegedly asked the students to perform the tasks -- were suspended in connection with the soak pit incident.

Meanwhile, two male teachers have been suspended over allegations under POCSO Act and corporal punishment, respectively, the officials said.

"We have suspended five of them and got two cases registered. One FIR has been booked under the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act for making students clean the pit.

However, we have now been informed that the students were not made to clean the soak pit but they were actually made to remove the obstacles near the chamber behind the pit. However, our probe committee would be visiting the spot to conduct a detailed inquiry into the matter," he said.

"Another case has been booked against the male teacher under the Protection of Children Against the Sexual Offences Act and the teacher concerned has also been arrested in connection with the incident that occurred on Thursday, " he said.

Noting that manual scavenging is a serious issue, Raju said, "As soon as the matter came to our notice, we took all the measures to counter it. The entire system in the school will be changed now. New principal, teachers and wardens will be appointed. We have taken all the necessary measures to ensure that no such incident is repeated." According to officials, during preliminary inquiry, other allegations of ill-treatment of the students by the staff also surfaced. In one such incident, a private video of a girl child was also taken by the male teacher and a case under POCSO Act was booked against him. He was arrested as well as suspended in connection with the incident.

In another incident of corporal punishment in the same school, a male teacher allegedly forced some students to do hands-up and kneel down punishment with heavy bags on their backs. The teacher concerned has also been suspended by the KREIS in connection with the incident, the officials said.

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