The police have arrested a physical education teacher and an administrative officer of a private school in Coimbatore on charges of molesting at least five girl students.
The police said that physical education teacher A. Murali (34) of Karamadai, and administrative officer S. Vijayakumar (34) of Ganapathy, who worked in a school near Ganapathy, were arrested after a group of victims sought the help by dialling the Childline - 1098.
The girls complained to the Childline that the duo had been molesting them for the past few months. They alleged that the teacher touched them with wrong intentions while taking part in games and gave punishments to those who resisted.
Members of the Childline met the girls and later lodged a complaint with the All Women Police Station, Coimbatore East, on Friday.
The police registered a case against Murali and Vijayakumar under Sections 9 (f) (whoever commits sexual assault on the child more than once or repeatedly), and 9 (l) (whoever being on the management or staff of an educational institution or religious institution, commits sexual assault on a child in that institution) read with 10 (punishment for aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The police arrested the duo and produced them before a court on Saturday. The court remanded them in judicial custody and they were sent to the Coimbatore Central Prison..
