COIMBATORE: A 46-year-old school teacher was arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for allegedly misbehaving with a 10-year-old girl at a government school near Annur in the district.
The incident took place on March 17 and the girl reported it to the school headmaster who then lodged a complaint against the teacher with Annur police.
According to the police, the suspect, a second-grade teacher aged 46, who had been working in a government school near Annur was temporarily sent under deputation to another government middle school in the same locality a week ago. Two days after joining, he had allegedly misbehaved with a minor girl studying in Class V while she was alone in the classroom.
Based on the complaint, the police arrested the teacher on Monday and remanded him to the prison in the evening.
In another case, a 74-year-old autorickshaw driver from Coimbatore was assaulted and thrashed by a mob at NGGO colony junction near Thudiyalur for allegedly sexually harassing woman passengers who boarded his vehicle.
According to sources, two women along with a child boarded the auto on Monday morning and asked to go to NGGO colony. While they were reaching the NGGO colony junction, a woman in the autorickshaw started shouting that he had misbehaved with her.
The public who gathered there assaulted the autorickshaw driver who was then handed over at the Thudiyalur all-woman police station for investigation, said police.
The auto-rickshaw driver denied the charges and told police that the woman passengers hired the vehicle without having a proper destination address and asked to visit several places. Finally, when one of them stepped out at the NGGO colony, her child started screaming and he had offered help to handle the child. But she misinterpreted it as taking advantage of her, he claimed. No complaint has been filed against the auto-rickshaw driver, said a police officer.