BENGALURU: A private school owner was arrested on Wednesday on the charges of sexually assaulting seven students over the past few months. All the students are in primary school.
According to Sampigehalli police, the accused has been identified as Hussain (50), a resident of Thanisandra and the owner of Reliance Public School, which is in the same locality.
He was arrested based on a complaint filed by a victim in the presence of her parents.
The police said, “According to the complainant, the accused was sexually assaulting students since three months. On Wednesday, many parents staged a protest in front of the school. On receiving information, police went to the spot. The parents said that the school owner was sexually assaulting the students since many days and the children were complaining of stomach pain.”
The police took the victims and their parents to the police station where one of the victims filed a complaint which included statements of six other students.
According to the complaint, Hussain used to hold special classes for students studying in the 5th, 6th and 7th Standard.
It was then that he would allegedly sexually assault the girls.
The parent of one of the victims said, “My child complained that Hussain was touching her inappropriately and so refused to attend special classes. On Wednesday morning, we came to know that the parents of one of the students was protesting in this regard. We went to the school and realised that at least seven students had complained to their parents about the sexual abuse. It has really shocked us.”
“The Reliance Public School has classes from nursery to 9th standard. It was Hussain’s wife who took care of the day-to-day affairs while Hussain visited the school once in a while. But since three months, he started taking special classes for the children,” the parent said.
According to an officer from the Sampigehalli police station, Hussain was arrested based on a complaint from one of the girl students and was interrogated in the police station.
Police said that despite having adequate teaching staff, Hussain would conduct special classes on the pretext of revision and allegedly sexually assaulted the students.
Police have booked a case under Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 354 of IPC (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty).