A district court on Tuesday sent the principal of Government Inter College Thapla in Tehri to 14-day police remand for allegedly molesting girl students.
Police, earlier in the day, arrested Keshav Narayan Avasthi and booked him under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The development comes days after parents of eight girl students lodged an FIR against the principal. Even local Parent Teacher Association (PTA) had come in support of the parents and threatened to go on strike from Wednesday if police fail to arrest him.
“He was presented before the district and session court that had sent him on remand for 14 days,” JP Kohli, station officer (SO), told Hindustan Times.
According to parents of one of the victim, the principal used to invite girls in his office and molest them. This wasn’t limited to few students, but all girl students had become his target.
“My daughter was afraid of telling us about the incident. When she opened up, she told us names of other girls too that have faced similar problem. We met their parents and decided to lodge FIR,” a parent said requesting anonymity.
Kailash Ramola, who heads PTA, had been actively involved in the case. When the parents approached him, he suggested documenting the case by filing an FIR and also declared staging protest with the help of other parents if, the accused wasn’t arrested.
{{/usCountry}}Kailash Ramola, who heads PTA, had been actively involved in the case. When the parents approached him, he suggested documenting the case by filing an FIR and also declared staging protest with the help of other parents if, the accused wasn’t arrested.
{{/usCountry}}“It was not the problem with only one girl, but many other girls did similar complaints. We had to take a decision and created pressure to arrest him,” Ramola said.
Some girls had serious impact of the incidents. “The girls are so petrified that they deny answering police. Gladly, the investigation was not only restricted to the 8 complainants but police also reported versions of school teachers and other girls,” Ramola added.