TIRUNELVELI: A 24-year-old Bihar native, who was working as a teacher at a Veda patashala at Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district, was arrested on Thursday under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act for allegedly sexually assaulting several students aged between seven and 12 on multiple occasions at the institute. His arrest came after a 10-year-old’s parents filed a police complaint.
The accused, Durgesh Tiwari, teaches in the traditional school run by a woman, whose identity the police did not reveal. “Tiwari was working in a Mamallapuram-based patashala when the woman brought him to the Nanguneri region in 2024. He came with two Bihari children, and gradually increased the student strength,” an official said, requesting anonymity. Of the nine children from Bihar who stayed at the patashala, eight were allegedly sexually assaulted by Tiwari at night on different occasions.
After the 10-year-old survivor told the building owner about the incident, she informed his parents, who arrived in Tirunelveli and filed a complaint. “Police have advised parents of all students to come to Tirunelveli and cooperate in the inquiry. District child protection office authorities will meet the children at the patashala building and take necessary steps to shift them to a safe location,” the official said.
Police have registered a case under relevant sections of Pocso Act, 2012, for repeated aggravated penetrative sexual assault of children below 12 years of age by a person of authority in an educational institution. Tiwari has been produced before the Nanguneri Judicial Magistrate court, which remanded him in jail.
The boy, whose parents filed a complaint, has been provided medical treatment and counselling, police said.