A 55-year-old teacher was arrested in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district after a 13-year-old girl student of his class attempted suicide accusing him of molesting her several times.
The class 7 student had reported to her parents that D Muralikrishna was inappropriately touching her and that, after being warned, he continued to do so.
Instead of encouraging the youngster, the parents told her that she must have felt that way because the teacher was her grandfather’s age.
According to police, the girl’s parents’ attitude pushed her into a deep depression, and she tried suicide at her house on Saturday by drinking varnish.
The parents subsequently went to the police, who detained the teacher on Monday. The teacher was charged under Sections 7 (Sexual assault), 8 (punishment for sexual assault), 9 (aggravated sexual assault), and 10 (punishment for aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection for Children Under Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act of 2012 by the SHO at Tiruvallam police station in Vellore district.
He was booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act 1998, according to Tiruvallam police.
The girl’s condition is stable, according to police, and she is recovering at a private hospital.
(with inputs from IANS)