The court remanded the accused principal to police custody till September 23. (Representational image)
The principal of a convent school, who has been arrested for alleged sexual harassment of a 14-year-old student, has told police that he had already been awarded punishment by a ‘religious authority’ in Poland which had asked him to remain under house arrest for three years.
In a statement made before a city court seeking his remand, the police submitted that the arrested principal had claimed that an ‘internal inquiry’ had been conducted by a bishop from a school in Solapur, following which the punishment was awarded to him. It was not clear which ‘religious authority’ the principal was referring to. Police said they are still in the process of verifying the claims.
The principal is accused of showing pornographic videos on his mobile phone to the youngster in his office and in the school restroom in March this year. The victim had complained to a female counsellor in the school who allegedly asked him to remain silent about the incident. For this reason, the counsellor is also a co-accused in the police case.
The matter reached police after the father of the victim registered an FIR at the Wanavdi police station on September 14. Police has invoked sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, besides those of Indian Penal Code, against the principal and the counsellor.
In the remand report submitted to the court on Thursday, the police claimed that the principal had been staying at a building named ‘Carmel Heaven’ in Wagholi, apparently under house arrest, but fled the spot as soon as he came to know of the FIR. He was arrested on Wednesday while he was on his way from Chembur in Mumbai to Ahmedabad.
The police told a special court today that its investigation so far had revealed that two more boys had been similarly harassed by the principal.
Seeking his custody, the remand report submitted to the court says that the principal had used his own mobile phone to show the pornographic content to the victim and that the police was still to recover this phone from the accused. It also says that the police needed to investigate his claims about ‘internal inquiry’ and punishment from a ‘religious authority’ in a foreign country. The police said it also wanted to probe the role of the co-accused counsellor and whether anyone else had helped to keep the crime hidden.
The court remanded the accused principal to police custody till September 23.