Boy held after pregnant classmate accuses him of rape

Baripada (Odisha): A teenage boy of a state-run residential school in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district was apprehended and sent to a juvenile home after one of her classmates, who is in her advanced stage of pregnancy, accused him of raping her, officials said Friday.

The headmistress of the school in the district lodged a complaint with the police on Wednesday after noticing that the tribal girl, a student of Class 6, is pregnant, a police officer said.

The 14-year-old girl was then taken for examination to a local hospital here, and was found to be carrying a six-month-old foetus, the officer said.

"In her statement, she accused the boy, who is of the same age as her, of raping her," he said. The boy was produced on Thursday before a member of the District Juvenile Board, who sent him to an observation home in Angul district, around 315 km from here, he added.

The incident comes less than a month after two more reports of teenage pregnancies rocked the state.

In Dhenkanal district, a Class 8 student of a tribal residential school was found to be pregnant last month, while another student in Kalahandi district was admitted to a hospital after she was suspected to have consumed abortion pills.

With inputs from PTI.