Mumbai: The Beed police have initiate investigations into allegations of sexual abuse by a teacher with a government-aided residential school, who, according to the complaint filed by the school authorities, has sexually abused several girl students. The accused is on the run.
According to the police, the matter was reported to them by the trustees of the school last week. “Some trustees approached us and said that a local child welfare body had informed them about sexual abuse by a teacher. Representatives of the body told the trustees that a student had written to them seeking help against sexual abuse by the accused, and had advised them to file a police complaint. We have registered an FIR with the Shirur police, under whose jurisdiction the school falls,” said Additional Superintendent of Police Dikshitkumar Gedam, Beed police.
The letter the victim, a Class VII student with the school, wrote to the child welfare body, alleged that the teacher would make girl students bathe in front of him, and that the teacher would sexually exploit the students at night.
Inquiries are under way to find out exactly how many girls have been exploited by the teacher and how long the sexual abuse had been going on. “Our efforts to nab the accused are on,” said Mr. Gedam.
A similar incident was reported in Buldhana last year. In November, a student with a government-aided residential school had informed her parents about being sexually abused by a sweeper-cum-handyman at the school. When the girl’s parents informed the school authorities, they were allegedly asked to ‘let bygones be bygones’.
The Buldhana police were informed about the matter by a local informant in the victim’s village, after which they booked the accused and 10 functionaries with the school who knew about the matter but did not report it. Shortly thereafter, another student came forward to tell the police that she had been similarly exploited by the accused. A Special Investigating Team was formed to probe the matter.
