RAMANATHAPURAM
Four days after parents and local people stormed the Government High School at Kamudhakudi demanding action against the Mathematics teacher for allegedly sexually abusing Class VIII girl students, police have booked him on charge of sexual abuse of a girl, and three other women teachers for threatening the victim not to reveal the matter to anyone.
After the local people alleged that the police discouraged the victim’s mother from lodging a complaint and tried to ‘hush up’ the matter, Paramakudi all-women police booked Ananth, the Mathematics teacher, under Section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, on Sunday. The case was registered on a complaint lodged by mother of the victim and the accused was arrested on Monday, the police said.
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The police have also booked three women teachers of the same school – Murugeswari, Sagayalatha and Raja Subbulakshmi – on the charge of holding out threat to the life of the victim if she revealed the alleged sexual abuse by the teacher to anyone. The three teachers were booked under Section 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
After the incident came to light on March 10, the Mathematics teacher was asked to go on leave on the orders of Chief Educational Officer R. Murugan, pending departmental enquiry. He had directed the District Educational Officer (Paramakudi) to enquire into the matter and submit a report.
In a related development, Paramakudi Town police, based on a complaint lodged by Ms. Murugeswari, registered a case against two teachers and noon meal organiser of the school and nine others, who are residents of Kamudhakudi village, for waylaying her and abusing her using her caste name for allegedly supporting Ananth.
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All the 12 accused were booked under Section 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC and Section 3 (1) (r) (s) of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 2015. No accused was arrested till Monday evening, the police said.