PE teacher, seven others held for sexual harassment of 12-year-old girl in Pimpri Chinchwad

NEW DELHI: A teacher of physical education and seven others have been arrested in connection with the sexual harassment of a 12-year-old girl student at a private school in Pimpri Chinchwad in Pune, police said on Saturday. Based on a complaint lodged by the girl's parents at Nigdi police station, the police arrested the accused on Friday, an official said.

The teacher was previously jailed on the charges of molestation, but the school reinstated him after his release, he said. According to the complaint, the teacher had been allegedly sexually harassing the girl for the last two years, the official said.

"The accused allegedly touched the girl inappropriately during the PE classes and would wait for her outside the women's washroom. He also threatened her on multiple occasions," he said.

The accused have been booked under sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force with intent to outrage a woman's modesty), 78 (stalking), 79 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult a woman's modesty), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The official said the others arrested were the school's principal, some trustees and board members.