Kalwa school teacher arrested, POCSO slapped

A Class X students had alleged that the drawing teacher touched her inappropriately and asked her offensive questions about her sexuality

Kalwa

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The Kalwa police station registered an FIR against Yogesh Ahire, a teacher from Sahakar School, and arrested him on Tuesday night for molesting a class 10 girl on the school premises. A case has been lodged under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) and section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code

Dinesh Koote, the principal, said, “I called the victim to the office and repeatedly asked her about the incident. Maybe she was too scared or embarrassed, but she only told me that he rested his hand on her shoulder. I immediately called the teacher and he, too, accepted this. I demanded a written apology from him.” The principal then gave Ahire a memo, warning him to keep his actions in check. “If I knew how serious this was, I would have called the police.”

“All of our teachers and the organization itself are very good. Everyone is being insulted and judged based on a single person’s actions,” said a school teacher.

The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon when the arrested rested his hand on the victim’s shoulder and asked her offensive questions about her sexuality. The teacher was beaten up by leaders from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), who visited the school on Tuesday afternoon, along with the victim and her family. MNS leaders condemned the lack of action by the school principal.

Assuring that this was the first time that such an incident had occured in the school and that the school does not support any such behaviour, Koote added, “There were two other teachers in the cabin when I asked the girl about the incident. We are now waiting for a written complaint from the victim’s family to take further action.”

“While the arrested does not have any past criminal record, further investigation is still on going,” said a source from the Kalwa Police Station.