Suspended govt. school headmistress booked under SC/ST Act in Tiruppur

According to a complaint, Ms. Geetha, during her tenure had insulted several SC girls studying in Classes IX and X using casteist slurs and allegedly forced them to clean the toilets in the school.

The Tiruppur District Police on Friday, December 24, 2021, registered a case against the former headmistress of a government school, who was suspended last week on charges of discriminating against Scheduled Caste (SC) students, under provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The Mangalam police had booked Geetha, who was the headmistress of Government High School in Iduvai, under sections 3 (1) (r) (intentionally insulting or intimidating with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view) and 3 (1) (s) (abusing any member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe by caste name in any place within public view) of the Act.

The case was registered based on a complaint lodged by B. Saravanakumar, a member of the Vigilance and Monitoring Committee of the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department. He told

The Hindu on Saturday that he lodged the complaint after conducting an inquiry at the Government High School in Iduvai on Thursday. He alleged that Ms. Geetha, during her tenure as the headmistress, had insulted several SC girls studying in Classes IX and X using casteist slurs and allegedly forced them to clean the toilets in the school.

On December 17, R. Ramesh, Chief Educational Officer for Tiruppur district, received a complaint from a group of Class IX and Class X students from the school, based on which he conducted an inquiry and placed Ms. Geetha under suspension till further notice.

As the case has been registered under the SC/ST Act, the Deputy Superintendent of Police – Palladam will conduct further inquiry into the case and initiate action against the accused, the police said on Saturday.