Teacher sexually harasses 11-year-old girl in class, held

NAVI MUMBAI: A 50-year-old schoolteacher from a Marathi medium school in Wadkhal in Raigad district has been arrested for allegedly sexually harassing an 11-year-old girl in the classroom on Tuesday. The school is run by a private educational trust.
“The girl, a class VII student, said on Tuesday, when she was on the first bench the teacher touched her inappropriately. She got scared and moved to a desk behind,” said Raigad SP Anil Paraskar.“After class, she complained to a female teacher, who assured her that the matter would be taken up. On reaching home, she narrated the incident to her parents. On Wednesday, the parents met the school headmaster who summoned the teacher, who denied the charges. The parents then filed a sexual harassment complaint against the teacher at Wadkhal police station.”
The teacher was arrested on Wednesday and booked under IPC Section 354A for sexual harassment and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. A special Pocso court at Alibaug sent him to magistrate’s custody. “We will probe if the teacher has sexually harassed other girls,” said inspector Ajit Shinde. —George Mendonca