TIRUNELVELI
Courtallam police arrested the headmaster of Ramasamy Pillai Higher Secondary School at Ilanji near Tenkasi for failing to take stringent action against a Tamil teacher of the school, who allegedly sexually harassed a girl student.
The school students and their parents alleged that Tamil teacher Raj Gnanam of Laluhapuram in Pettai near here, who had allegedly harassed several students, asked the girl to come to his private tuition centre for special coaching. When she refused, he allegedly misbehaved with her, who alerted her parents and friends after informing headmaster G. Arumugam of Nannagaram near Courtallam of the incident.
As Arumugam did not take any action against the Tamil teacher immediately, the agitated students and their parents started a sit-in dharna on the school premises on Thursday evening. When the agitation started, Raj Gnanam and Arumugam escaped from the school.
The protesting students and their parents said the Raj Gnanam, who was working on a temporary basis, should be sacked. Though Courtallam police held talks with the protesters even after 8 p.m., they refused to relent and the agitation continued till 10 p.m.
When the students came to the school on Friday, the management had declared holiday for the school till Monday.
Meanwhile, the affected student filed a complaint with the police, who registered a case under Section 10 (aggravated sexual assault by a person in authority) and Section 12 (sexual harassment of a child) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, against Raj Gnanam, and Section 21 (failure to report an offence) against Arumugam and school correspondent Shanmuga Velayutham.
Against this backdrop, the police arrested the headmaster.