Guwahati, August 01, 2023: A hostel warden who allegedly sexually assaulted 21 children at a government residential school in Arunachal Pradesh for eight years has surrendered to a special court on Monday. The court remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Yumken Bagra, the hostel warden of the school at Karo village in Shi-Yomi district, appeared before the court of Justice Jaweplu Chai, special judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, at Yupia near here. His bail, granted on February 23 this year, was cancelled by the Gauhati High Court on July 21.

The high court had expressed its shock and dismay at the way the trial court had granted bail to the main accused without giving any valid reasons. The high court had also raised concerns about the safety of the victims after the release of the accused on bail.

Bagra (33) is accused of sexually assaulting 21 children, both boys and girls, aged between 6 and 14, from 2014 to 2022. He was arrested in November 2022 after two twin sisters lodged a complaint against him for molesting them inside the hostel. The case was initially registered in Tato, the headquarters town of Shi-Yomi district, and later transferred to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Arunachal Pradesh police.

The SIT, headed by Deputy SP Muir Basar Kamdak, found out that there were more victims of Bagra’s assault who had not come forward. The police recovered obscene videos from his phone and also arrested one of his accomplices, O. Pertin, who had helped him hide. The police filed a charge sheet against him under Section 376 AB of the POCSO Act.