Schoolteacher arrested for sexual abuse of three girls

The police have also filed cases against GP president and headmistress

July 31, 2014 11:22 pm | Updated 11:22 pm IST - Mangalore

A high school teacher was arrested on Thursday near Hebri in Udupi taluk for allegedly molesting a girl and her two friends over nearly six months of special classes.

Police have also filed cases against three more persons — including the gram panchayat president and headmistress — for allegedly suppressing the complaints of the girls.

Venkatarama Kalkura (45), a mathematics teacher in a government school, was arrested, said the Hebri police.

According to the complaint, the teacher is accused of “inappropriately touching” the 16-year-old girls during special classes held between February and June. The complaint was filed on Wednesday night, and Mr. Kalkura was arrested on Thursday morning, said the police.

With the complainant being from the Scheduled Tribe community, the Hebri police have filed a case under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989; Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012; and Indian Penal Code Section 354 A, B and D (under the new Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013) for sexually explicit advances, use of criminal force to outrage the modesty of women, and stalking, respectively.

The police have also filed a case under IPC 201 against Suresh Shetty, local BJP worker and GP president, headmistress of the school, Prabhavathi, and Veena, a teacher at the school.

The police said the three adults had been informed by the girls in February itself of the sexual abuse at school, and all three had allegedly defended the teacher and asked the students not to lodge a complaint. “Even by asking them not to report the crime to the police constitutes means of suppressing a crime,” said a police officer in Udupi.

There was minor tension at the police station when a group of BJP members gathered there protesting the “framing” of the GP president. The three were released on bail.

The Education Department has placed the teacher under suspension, said Block Education Officer (Karkala) Manmohan S.K. He added that action would be taken against two other teachers — who have been accused of suppressing the complaints — as soon as information from the police is received.

He confirmed that the girls had given a complaint to the department. “However, the principal and a few teachers had stood by him,” said Mr. Manmohan.

He said Mr. Kalkura has had complaints against him in a school at Kundapura from where he was transferred to the government school near Hebri.

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