TEACHER FROM TOP CHENNAI SCHOOL ARRESTED

CHENNAI: A Chennai school teacher was held for allegedly sexually harassing multiple students, Shankar Jiwal, the city police commissioner said. He was produced before a magistrate on Tuesday and remanded in judicial custody.

The teacher, G Rajagopalan, 59 has been booked under the POCSO Act, IPC’s Sections 354 A (sexual harassment) and 509 (insulting modesty of a woman) as well as provisions of the IT Act related to publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form and that containing sexually explicit act.

An alumna of the school where the teacher taught was the first to share experiences of other present and past students on Instagram. The accusations against him of sexual misconduct during online and physical classes went viral on Sunday. The following day, around 1,000 alumni of the school wrote to the management seeking immediate action. Alumni expressed disappointment that the school had not taken action despite complaints against the teacher, who taught at the school for 20 years.

The school denied having received complaints but suspended the teacher and reiterated their stance in a statement released on Tuesday. “We have never received any written complaint on this matter from anyone,” their statement read. “The behaviour of one teacher does not in any way detract from the highest standards of professionalism that our teachers uphold.” The dean of the school added in the statement that, “In our over 60 years’ legacy, we have never had such a situation with an errant teacher. It is a wake-up call for all schools and we have to be ever vigilant. We are constituting a special senior group, drawn from both legal and nonlegal backgrounds, who will be guiding us to ensure that such incidents don’t recur again.” Being aware of a sexual crime against a child and not reporting it is a punishable offence under Section 19 (1) and Section 21 under the POCSO Act.