Government school teacher held in Mandya district for sexually assaulting minors

A 30-year-old guest physical teacher in Mandya district arrested for sexually harassing female students by taking nude photographs and blackmailing them.

Bengaluru: A 30-year-old guest physical teacher of a government high school Mandya district has been arrested for allegedly sexually harassing several female students, a police officer said.

Government school teacher held in Mandya district for sexually assaulting minors (Representative image )

Melukote police inspector M Siddappa said that the teacher allegedly used to take nude photographs of girls while they used to change into sports clothes and then would allegedly blackmail them.

The incident came to the fore after the accused shifted to a school in T Narasipura and the victims wrote a letter to the district child protection Unit on June 29 informing them about the matter. Upon receiving the letter, authorities visited the school to investigate and discovered that several female students had fallen victims to the exploitation, the officer said.

Sidappa said: “The incident took place when the teacher was working in Melukote in 2023. Following the complaint by the child protection unit officials, we have registered a case under IPC sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), and 509 (outraging modesty of a woman), along with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. He was arrested on Sunday.”

He further said that the accused owns a scooter and “used to offered to drop the children to school, when he allegedly touching them inappropriately”.

“He even called the girls to an empty class room during break period and allegedly molested them. He used to film his act and threaten the victims not to disclose his acts to anyone, or else he would make them fail in their annual examinations. The victims, afraid of him, did not report the incident to anyone, including their parents,” he added.

Police have produced the accused before the JMFC court in Melkote, which remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.