Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), Apr 22 (PTI) Around 24 students of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya at Behjam in Lakhimpur Kheri district were allegedly locked on the roof of the school by two teachers to pressure the district authorities into cancelling their transfer orders, officials said on Friday.

The incident occurred on Thursday night. Officials and the local police managed to bring back the girls to their hostel after several hours.

"The teachers resorted to such tactics to put pressure on the district authorities to cancel an order of transfer to other Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya on disciplinary grounds," Laxmikant Pandey, the basic education officer of Lakhimpur Kheri, told PTI on Friday.

Pandey and District Coordinator of Girl Education Renu Srivastav were informed about the incident by hostel warden Lalit Kumari. They rushed to the school and camped there for several hours.

Women staffers of the local police were also called in and the matter was resolved, Pandey said.

"An FIR has been registered under the relevant sections of the IPC Renu Srivastav against the two teachers Manorama Mishra and Goldi Katiyar," Pandey said.

A departmental probe into the matter has also been ordered. A committee will submit the report within three days," he said.

Pandey added that stringent action, including termination of the service contracts, would be initiated against the teachers if they are found guilty in the probe.

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Washington (PTI): There are not too many more vibrant democracies in the world than India, the White House has said, applauding the people of India for exercising their right to vote.

White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby was responding to a question on the ongoing Indian elections in which more than 969 million people are exercising their right to franchise at one million polling stations to elect 545 Members of Parliament from thousands of candidates representing as many as 2,660 registered political parties.

The voting will conclude on June 1. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on June 4.

“Not too many more vibrant democracies in the world than India. And we applaud the Indian people for exercising, you know, their ability to vote, and to have a voice in their future government. And we wish them well throughout the process, of course,” Kirby told reporters at a news conference here.

Responding to another question, Kirby said the India-US relationship has strengthened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular during the last three years of the Biden administration.

“Our relationship with India is extremely close and getting closer,” he said.

“You saw it on a State Visit (last June). We launched all kinds of new initiatives, working on critical emerging technologies together, and bolstering and expanding the relevance of the Indo-Pacific quad, of course, which India is a part of. And then, just the people-to-people exchanges, and the military that we share with India,” Kirby said.

It's a very vibrant, very active partnership, he said.

"We are grateful for Prime Minister Modi's leadership,” said the senior White House official.

When asked if President Joe Biden believes that India and Japan are xenophobic countries, he replied in the negative and said the president was making a broader point.

“I mean, the president was making a broader point here about the vibrancy of our own democracy, here in the United States, and how inclusive and participatory it is,” Kirby said.

Biden earlier this month had called Japan and India "xenophobic", grouping them with Russia and China as countries that "don't want immigrants".