Govt school teacher booked for stalking girl students

Police registered an FIR against Kanwar Manwant Singh, posted as a Physical Training Instructor (PTI) at Government Senior Secondary School, Sawaddi Kalan village for allegedly sending inappropriate messages to the students and forcing them to talk to him over phone at odd hours.

An FIR has been registered after the Ludhiana district education office (secondary) instructed the school principal to get the case registered following a departmental probe which found the teacher guilty.

The FIR has been lodged following the statement of Jasvir Kaur, principal of the school. The teacher has already been suspended by the education department.

The matter came to light after some of the students filed a written complaint to the principal in May. The students accused him of calling them in the night and forcing them to talk to him.

After an inquiry, the principal informed the education department, following which a committee was formed to investigate the matter. During the investigation the students produced screenshots of the messages sent by the teacher.

After some of the activists took up the matter with the child rights commission, the body on June 9 sought a report from the District Education Officer that why the department did not lodge an FIR against the accused, following which the FIR has been registered.

An FIR under sections 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-D (stalking), 506 (Criminal intimidation) of IPC and section 12 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) has been registered against the accused at Sidhwan Bet police station.