Teacher held for raping teenage student; parents hold protest, blame school management

NEW DELHI: Police have arrested a school teacher for allegedly raping a 14-year-old student on several occasions at his private tuition in Nalasopara of Maharashtra's Palghar district, an official said on Tuesday. Angry parents and relatives of the girl along with several others held a protest this morning outside the school, where the accused is employed as a teacher, and blamed its management for "shielding" him. The minor studies in the same school. The accused, identified as Amit Dubey (30), was arrested on Monday, he said.

"The crime took place between March and July this year. The accused called the victim to his tuition centre at home on some pretext and raped her. He indulged in the crime on multiple occasions," senior inspector Jitendra Vankoti of Pelhar police station under the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police commissionerate said.

Based on the complaint filed by the girl, a case was registered against Dubey under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 64 (2) (f) (being a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman commits rape on such woman) and 65 (1) (rape of a woman under sixteen years of age), and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the police official said. After coming to know about the crime committed by the teacher, hundreds of parents of school students assembled outside the institution and held a protest shouting slogans against its management and the accused.

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Victim's complaints ignored

Talking to reporters, the victim's brother claimed that the accused sexually abused several other students and teachers. He claimed that the accused raped his sister not only at his tuition centre but also in the school. Her parents alleged that the victim had complained to the school management about the arrested teacher, but they asked her to keep quiet.

The management of the school kept everything under wraps and did not even inform anyone about the victim despite her falling unconscious. They demanded that offenses be registered against the school management for shielding the teacher. In view of the protest by the parents, police personnel were deployed in and around the school.