A cook working in a residential school in Odisha’s Malkangiri was arrested on Saturday on allegations of impregnating a 11-year-old class 6 student and sexually abusing her over a period of time.
The girl’s pregnancy was detected in April. Though her parents came to know about it, they took a transfer certificate and left the school.
However, as it became difficult for the girl to hide her pregnancy in the village, they lodged a complaint against the cook on Friday.
“When we got the victim medically examined, we found her to be six months pregnant,” said a police officer.
The accused Parshuram Padiami, also a tribal, was arrested under section 376 of IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, said police.
Padiami allegedly assaulted the girl in the school in December last year and then forced her to have physical relationship with him multiple times.
The case comes two years after more than 20 cases of teen pregnancies were reported from tribal schools across the state. The state government had then warned headmasters and hostel superintendents of suspension if such cases were reported again.