COIMBATORE: The kin of a girl who was sexually harassed by her teacher at a school in April 2023 in Coimbatore has petitioned at District Police Superintendent’s Office on Monday seeking legal action against all those who were involved in the case and allegedly threatened her and attempted to cover up the incident for eight months.
The girl studying class 9 in a government school in a village on Siruvani Road levelled sexual harassment complaints against her Physical Education Teacher and other teachers for acting in support of the suspect.
The incident happened on April 15, 2023, when she was studying in class 8. She said that the matter was reported to teachers, Assistant Headmaster, and Headmistress soon after the incident. However, they failed to report it to the police and attempted to settle it amicably and also some of them threatened them not to make it an issue.
In December 2023 the issue came to light and police booked a case against the PE Teacher under sections 9 (l) and 10 of the POCSO Act.
Following further investigations, the police have altered the POCSO sections and invoked the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Also, they recorded her statement and the work to file the charge sheet is underway. Meanwhile, the mother and the sister of the girl, submitted a petition at the Police Superintendent’s office on Monday to demand legal action against 10 teachers who allegedly acted in favour of the arrested PE teacher. They attached the victim’s statement in their plea.
Though we submitted a detailed complaint mentioning the names of other teachers who tried to cover up the issue in favour of the accused, the Police booked the case only on the perpetrator and continued the investigation on others at a snail’s pace. Hence we submitted another petition to remind them of their alleged role in this case, said the mother of the victim girl.
The police officials said that the legal proceedings were on and a few teachers had yet to submit their explanation on this issue.