MAYILADUTHURAI: A 38-year-old private schoolteacher here was arrested on Sunday for sexually assaulting several students at the school hostel where he was serving as a warden, the police said.
The accused has been identified as S Seenivasan of Sethankudi, who was a teacher at a private school near Mayiladuthurai town. The man was staying at the school boys’ hostel as one of its two wardens.
“The accused had been working there for three years. We learnt that he had been touching them inappropriately. He has assaulted some of them sexually as well. We are still investigating,” a police official said. Seenivasan’s acts came to light after he recently sexually assaulting a Class 9 boy.
The 13-year-old student victim, who was initially reluctant to disclose the assault, confided it to his 10-year-old brother who is pursuing Class 6 in the same school as a day scholar. The boy, in turn, reported the assault to his mother. After enquiring with his son, the woman lodged a complaint with the police on Friday.
The Mayiladuthurai all-women police along with district child protection unit members then launched an investigation which revealed that Seenivasan has assaulted several students over the past few years, sources said. The school management soon dismissed Seenivasan. Fearing further action against him, Seenivasan allegedly attempted suicide at his house on Friday.
Following his discharge from a private hospital in Chidambaram on Sunday, the Mayiladuthurai all-women police booked him under sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and arrested him in the evening. The police are planning to produce him before the Special Court for POCSO Act in Nagapattinam.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on Tamil Nadu’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)
