Hostel warden booked for thrashing Gujjar girls held

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 20

The police have finally arrested the absconding hostel warden, Shabnam Gurezi, who has a case registered against her for mercilessly beating up over a dozen girls of the Gujjar and Bakerwal hostel here.

The warden was arrested yesterday in Srinagar, police officials said today.

“The warden has an FIR against her for beating up girls, some of whom are admitted in hospital. We have shifted her to Central Jail. The investigations are going on,” said Muhammad Isaac, Station House Officer, Shergali Police Station, where the case has been registered.

Gurezi thrashed the Gujjar girls in the hostel at Tulsi Bagh on Thursday. Eight of the girls, studyingin Government Girls High School, Rajbagh, were admitted in a hospital with severe injuries.

The warden, who had been suspended for her brutality, had gone underground after the incident.

The girls, who were preparing for exams, had been thrashed by the warden for refusing to clean the hostel. The victims said they had remained silent for about a decade about the abuses inflicted by Gurezi – a recipient of Bharat Guarav Award from the All India Human Welfare Council in 2015.

The students also accused the warden of forcing them to babysit her infant daughter.

The incident created an uproar in the state Legislative Assembly. The Education Minister while calling the warden a ‘psychopath’ promised that strict action would be taken against her as she didn’t deserve to be part of the system.