Mumbai teacher arrested for sexually assaulting minor student to undergo psychiatric test

The police will also be visiting the school and approaching batchmates of the survivor to find out if there are more victim students

The police on Wednesday informed a special court for Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act cases that they wish to subject the female teacher of a reputed city school arrested for sexually assaulting her minor student to a psychiatric test.

The police also told the court that they are searching for the accused’s absconding female friend. (Unsplash/Representative)

The court extended the 40-year-old teacher’s police custody remand by a day after being informed that the police had got an appointment for her psychiatric evaluation on Thursday.

“We want to carry out the psychiatric evaluation to understand her mental health so that, in the future, she doesn’t claim that she is mentally not fit,” said a police officer.

The police also told the court that they are searching for the accused’s absconding female friend, who allegedly helped coax the 16-year-old boy to meet his teacher outside the school, where she allegedly sexually assaulted him.

“We will also be visiting the school and approaching batchmates of the survivor to find out if there are more victim students,” said the police officer.

Police teams are also visiting medical shops to understand what pills the teacher allegedly gave the boy after he developed acute anxiety due to the sexual assault. “The teacher has been telling us they are antidepressants, but we need to record statements of medical store owners,” said the officer.

Meanwhile, the police have learnt that the teacher had resigned from the reputed Mumbai school, where she met the survivor, in 2024. “We will visit the school to understand what led to her resignation,” said the police officer.

School sources told HT that after the management expressed unhappiness with the performance of the teacher, who had been with the school for over three years, she abruptly resigned in the summer of 2024. This was a good five months after she had started sexually abusing her student.

School authorities also refused to respond to specific queries about whether the school had been appraised of the abuse either by the parents or the student himself. As per law, school authorities are bound to report any instance of sexual abuse pertaining to minors to the police.

A spokesperson for the school said it was “fully cooperating” with the police in their investigation. “The school has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual offences against children or sexual harassment of children,” the spokesperson added.

The accused teacher will be produced before a court again on Thursday. She was arrested on Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting one of her minor students on multiple occasions over a year. The 40-year-old English teacher, who is married with children of her own, taught the 16-year-old survivor, a class XI student.