İzmir secondary students allegedly subjected to strip search over theft claims

İZMİR

An investigation has been opened after three secondary school students were allegedly subjected to a naked-body search after being accused of theft in the Aegean province of İzmir on March 15, Doğan News Agency has reported. 

The incident occurred at a secondary school in İzmir’s Buca district after a student, U.K., claimed that her money had been stolen by three other female students at the school.

The three girls identified as the culprits, C.V., A.P. and R.Ş., were called to the room of a woman deputy principal, G.U.

Meanwhile, another woman deputy principal who was in the room at the same time, Z.S., locked the door of the room and closed the curtains, accusing them of committing theft.

Z.S. reportedly told the shocked girls to undress, but the 100 Turkish Liras they were alleged to have stolen was not found on them.

C.V. said she had never been subjected to such an incident and that she had begun to cry during the search.

“Our school counselor, S.K., was in the room among the other teachers. She told the principals that they had the right to conduct a body search. She also said, ‘Search them to their underclothes.’ While they were searching our body, I was crying and saying, ‘Stop it,’” she said.

The mother of the girl said that even if her daughter had committed theft, they had no right to touch her daughter’s body. 

The principal of the school, E.D., denied the claims, saying it was impossible to make everybody happy.

The principal, two of his deputies and the school counselor have been suspended from their positions as part of an investigation by the Education Ministry’s provincial directorate.