Private tuition teacher sexually assaults minor in classroom

PUNE: A 39-year-old teacher of a private tuition class was arrested on Monday night for sexually assaulting a minor girl (15) in the morning when she was alone in the classroom.
The police probe revealed that the teacher had sexually assaulted another girl student. “We are in the process of recording the statement of the other student,” sub-inspector Mangal Jogan of the Vishrantwadi police, who is probing the case, said.

The teacher was arrested under the sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 376 (sexual assault) of the Indian Penal Code and the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after the mother of the girl, molested on Monday morning, lodged a complaint.

Jogan said the complainant’s daughter was a Standard X student. “The girl has been attending the teacher’s classes since she was in Standard V,” she said.

She said the girl used to attend the classes from 6am to 9.30am every day and then go to school directly. “According to the woman’s complaint, when her daughter reached the classroom on Monday, she was alone,” Jogan said.

Taking advantage of it, the arrested teacher sat near the student and started touching her inappropriately. “When the girl tried to resist him, the suspect threatened her and sexually assaulted her,” Jogan said.

She said the shocked girl still attended the class. “She then went home and narrated her ordeal to her mother, who immediately came to the police station and lodged a complaint,” Jogan said.

The police swung into action and took the suspect in custody. “As the news of the arrest of the teacher spread, one more girl student told her mother the sexual harassment she had faced from the teacher,” Jogan said.

She said the teacher was running tuition classes for long. Many students and their parents knew him. “We are now probing if the teacher had sexually assaulted any other students,” Jogan said.