E-Paper
FIR against Unnao teacher for sexually harassing girl students
The girls told child commission member Preeti Bharadwaj Dalal that head teacher Rajesh Kumar sexually harassed them. They said he used to entice them with candies to indulge in indecent activities.
Kanpur: An FIR was lodged against the head teacher of a government composite school in Unnao late on Saturday night for sexually harassing minor girl students. The issue came to light after a courageous girl reached out to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and lodged a complaint on the Prime Minister’s portal. Eighteen other girls also came forward to corroborate the allegations when child commission member Preeti Bharadwaj Dalal met them in their houses on Saturday and spoke to them at length. She also recorded their statements.
The girls told her that head teacher Rajesh Kumar sexually harassed them. They said he used to entice them with candies to indulge in indecent activities.
SHO Kotwali, Unnao Pramod Mishra said the FIR was lodged against the head teacher under IPC sections 354, 294 and section 9 and 10 of POCSO Act on the complaint of the woman cook of the institution. The police were conducting raids for Kumar who was absconding, he added.
In her police complaint, the cook said that the girls confided in her about the male head teacher touching them inappropriately and teasing them. She claimed to have informed two other teachers Suman and Avinash too. She said since the girls were minors, she filed a police complaint.
The composite school has 169 students -- 86 of them girls and 83 boys. There are six teachers and three of them are women.
The girls had earlier shared their ordeal with a woman teacher who apprised the other male teachers of the issue. It is not clear whether or not this teacher reported it to higher ups. Mishra said the police would be questioning the teachers.
