THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following a complaint of mental harassment and subsequent probe, the Vattiyoorkavu police registered a case against the principal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan school, Kodunganoor, on Sunday.
The police registered an FIR invoking Sections 354 (1) ( IV), and 506 (1) of IPC and Kerala Police Act 119(b) against principal Sunil Chacko. Section 354, a non-bailable offence, deals with outraging the modesty of a woman.
The FIR states that the principal took photographs of the teacher on his mobile phone and threatened to sack her from the job.
According to police, further action including arrest will take place in the coming days. “The initial probe proved that the principal had mentally harassed the teacher (complainant) several times. Also, we found that many teachers had left the school in the past three years allegedly due to the principal’s harassment,” said Suresh Babu, Vattiyoorkavu Station House Officer.
Earlier in September, a teacher at the school had lodged a complaint alleging Sunil Chacko had mentally tortured her by cancelling increment and behaving harshly with her.
The teacher alleged that the increment was cancelled after her students in the Economics Department had failed the school examination. She had also stated that she was forced to work standing for over eight hours a day and the principal regularly monitored her through CCTV.
The complainant also alleged that the principal used to ridicule her by saying that her body language was not good. Besides, the principal forced students to complain against teachers.
The police had recorded Sunil Chacko’s statement in which he reportedly stated he had never misbehaved or harassed the complainant.
Sunil told the police that the class hours were only a little more than six hours from 8.30 am to 3 pm, and hence the teacher’s statement of working for eight hours was baseless.
He said the school gave enough intervals and breaks to provide a stress-free environment to teachers.