Probe reveals teacher sexually abused a student in school too

PUNE: A day after the police registered an FIR against a physical training (PT) teacher for allegedly sexually assaulting four students, investigations revealed that the suspect also abused a student at the school in April.

“A 15-year-old boy, who registered the FIR, has given details of the acts committed by the teacher in the physical education (PE) room. The boy told the police that the teacher had allegedly sexually assaulted him on four occasions and one of the incidents had taken place in the PE room in April,” said assistant inspector Kiran Londhe.

The officer further said that three other boys were allegedly sexually assaulted on two to three occasions at the teacher’s house and at their respective homes between February and October. “The boys did not complain because the teacher had threatened to ruin their career. During questioning, the teacher has refuted the allegations,” Londhe added.

A special court on Tuesday remanded the suspect in police custody till November 1.

Earlier, Londhe had filed a report to seek custodial remand of the teacher for five days. Additional public prosecutor Makarand Aurangabadkar submitted that custodial interrogation of the suspect was essential. He pleaded that sufficient time be given to the police to find out whether the teacher had committed similar offence in the past.

The prosecution argued that the suspect’s interrogation was also essential to find out whether other schoolteachers and staff members were aware of the alleged acts committed by the suspect.

Opposing the prosecution’s plea, defence lawyer Narendra Jadhav argued that the custodial interrogation of the suspect was not essential because there was nothing to be recovered from him. He submitted that to conduct investigations at the school, the detention of the suspect in police custody was unwarranted.

Earlier, around 150 parents launched an agitation outside the school and met the principal demanding that the authorities take measures to ensure the safety of students and to resolve their problems.

The school trustee said, “We were not aware of the alleged incident in the PE room, we came to know about this from the police on Tuesday. The four students have been referred to a counselling session.We have assured the parents’ delegation that the students are safe. Any other issues raised by the parents will be decided on merit.”