Vasai schoolteacher arrested for raping minor student

MUMBAI: A 30-year-old English teacher from a school in Vasai was arrested on Sunday night for allegedly sexually assaulting his 14-year-old student for the last five months

MUMBAI: A 30-year-old English teacher from a school in Vasai was arrested on Sunday night for allegedly sexually assaulting his 14-year-old student for the last five months.

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According to Pelhar police, the accused teacher was arrested after the student revealed the ordeal to her parents when she could not bear the torture anymore.

Police officials said the accused had been blackmailing and sexually assaulting the girl, who went to the same school, and to his private tuition classes as well, since March 2024,

The accused had allegedly threatened to kill her if she told her parents about the rape. On Friday, when the girl returned home from tuition, she complained of pain in her stomach and private parts to her parents.

On inquiring further, the girl revealed about the rape to her parents after which they approached the Pelhar police, and based on the complaint lodged by them, the police registered a case of rape under section 64 (2)(f) (commits rape on a woman incapable of giving consent) and 65 (1) (punishment for rape in certain cases) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant sections of the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) 2012.

In her statement to the police, the survivor said that the teacher used to ask her to wait after school hours and rape her and, also, call her early to his tuition classes, before the other students arrived, so that he could rape her. She also said that when she opposed the repeated assaults, the teacher threatened to post her nude photos online and defame her in front of her friends and family.

The police officers also said that a few days ago, the girl had received an obscene message from the accused on her mobile phone, which was seen by her brother who then demanded to know what was going on. The girl then broke down and told him that the teacher was blackmailing her to have an affair. The brother told her to tell everything to their parents if the harassment continued.

“We have sent the mobile phone of the accused for forensic analysis to find out whether the teacher had photos of other girls and if he was harassing other girls as well,” said a police officer attached to the Pelhar police station.

The girl was sent for medical examination on Monday while the accused was produced before the court where he was remanded to police custody for four days.

“We have arrested the accused and are now investigating to find out whether he has sexually abused any other student,” said Jitendra Vankoti, senior police inspector of Pelhar police station.

Meanwhile, the school authorities have informed the police that they were unaware of the incident and that there were no previous complaints lodged against the English teacher by anyone from the school.