ROURKELA: Gurundia police in Sundargarh district has registered a case of sexual abuse against the Sanskrit teacher of a remote government school.
Police said the 37-year-old teacher was booked under different sections of the BNS and POCSO Act after the school headmistress lodged a complaint accusing him of inappropriately touching adolescent girl students. The accused has reportedly gone into hiding.
IIC of Gurundia police station Rameshwar Singh on Friday said the school headmistress filed an FIR on August 20 alleging that the accused teacher used to inappropriately touch girl students of Classes IX and X on their waist, chest and back. Acting on the complaint, a case was immediately registered. The accused teacher is at large and his mobile phone is switched off, he said. Singh said an application has been moved in the local court to allow recording of statements of the victim students. Statements of the girls would likely be recorded on Saturday. Help of their parents would also be taken to get to the root of the allegations, he added.
Sources said on August 16, the headmistress had reportedly spotted the accused teacher talking to a girl student in close proximity in a secluded area of the school. Subsequently, the teacher was reprimanded. After holding discussion with other teachers, the headmistress finally lodged a police complaint after four days.