A 40-year-old crafts teacher from Meenchanda here was booked on Sunday on charge of sexually abusing a visually impaired girl child from the city. Police officials from Nallalam station said Firoz Khan, the accused, assaulted the 12-year-old girl nearly four months ago.
The incident came to light when the headmaster of the school and the girls’ parents approached the Nallalam police for action against the teacher. Police sources said the girl was abused while she was staying in the school hostel. The accused went missing soon after the police launched a search.
The police said the man had been charged under sections 7 (sexual assault), 8 (punishment for sexual assault) 9 (f) (whoever being on the management or staff of an educational institution or religious institution, commits sexual assault on a child in that institution) and 9 (K) whoever, taking advantage of a child’s mental or physical disability, commits sexual assault on the child) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
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Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers took out a march to the Nallalam police station alleging that the police were trying to scuttle the probe into the incident. The police were aware of the incident several months ago, but they covered up the case, they alleged.
The police denied the charge and said they came to know about the incident only last Thursday. The police have withhold the details to check whether the teacher had abused other visually impaired friends of the victim.