After Badlapur, sexual assault case in Akola school: Principal says ‘…not aware,’ 6 girls complain, teacher arrested

After the Badlapur school sexual abuse case, another assault case from Maharashtra is in the spotlight. Following complaints from six school girls, the police arrested a school teacher from Maharashtra's Akola district on August 21, under various sections of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, according to an ANI report quoting sources.

"There was a program in the school yesterday...After the program was over the teacher went to meet the students of class 7-8. Some 4-5 girls said that they were harassed, then we came to know about this, until then we were not aware of any such thing," ANI quoted the Principal of the school, Ravindra Samdur, as saying.

The arrested school teacher has been identified as Pramod Manohar Sardar. After recording the statements of the victims, the police apprehended the assailant under the POCSO Act.

Superintendent of Police Akolka Bachchan Singh said, “Akola Police received a complaint of molestation of six school girls by Pramod Manohar Sardar, a teacher of the Zilla Parishad School in Kajikhed. Police immediately arrested the accused teacher and recorded the statements of the victim girls,” reported ANI.

The Police Superintendent further informed ANI that cases under sections 74 and 75 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita and POCSO Act were registered. Meanwhile, the police officer said further investigation into the case is underway.

This incident comes days after the Badlapur sexual assault case, which sparked widespread protests in Maharashtra. On Tuesday, protestors blocked train tracks at Badlapur railway station in Maharashtra's Thane district while agitating against the alleged sexual assault of two four-year-old girls in the washroom of a school. Subsequently, services of local and long-distance trains had to be suspended and diverted.

The victims were students of a pre-primary class at a co-ed school in Badlapur. They were sexually assaulted by the 23-year-old male sweeper on August 12-13. The toilet for girls in the school was not supervised by female staff and the sweeper was hired on a contract basis, school authorities said, according to media reports.

(With agency inputs)