The National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday issued notices to the chief secretary and police chief of Bihar over the assault on more than 30 schoolgirls in Supaul district for resisting the sexual advances of a group of boys. The panel has asked the officials for a detailed report on the incident.

The commission asked the officials to give information about the medical treatment administered to the injured students, measures taken to increase security at the school and action taken against the accused.

The attack took place on October 6, when boys from a nearby village barged into state-run Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in Supaul’s Triveniganj, the police said. Some of the girls asked them to leave and stopped them from writing objectionable comments on the school wall. But when the boys refused and harassed them, the girls hit them, according to NDTV.

Media reports said the boys called their parents and got the girls beaten up with sticks and rods later.

The panel’s statement said media reports indicated that the incident revealed a serious security lapse at the girls’ school. “Miscreants entered at their free will, committed the brutal act and fled from the spot,” the panel said. “The administration should have taken timely action when the issue was raised by the girl students regarding routine sexual advances by the local youths. The victim girls have been beaten up when they were in the custody of a government-run hostel school.”