A 26-year-old school teacher has been arrested by the Thuraiyur police in Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu for allegedly ‘marrying’ her 17-year-old student, on Thursday, March 24. The teacher and the student had gone missing on the same day – March 5 from the school. Based on the boy’s parents’ complaint, an initial missing person case was filed, which was later changed to add POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) sections.
According to the police, the boy studying in class 11 had gone missing on March 5, and a complaint was filed by his parents. Upon inquiry at the school, it was found that the teacher Sharmila had also gone missing the same day. The police further traced their mobile numbers and found that both the numbers were switched off at the same time. On further inquiry, the police found that the duo had been in a relationship.
A few days ago, it was detected that the mobile phone was being operated with a new sim card. On tracing the number, the police found their place of residence to be at Trichy. “On investigating them, it was found that they got married at a temple in Thanjavur and had been living in the house,” they added. As any marriage below 18 is not recognised by law, the teacher was booked under relevant sections of POCSO, arrested and remanded to police custody, while the boy has been sent to a juvenile home.
It is to be noted that two school teachers and one assistant professor were arrested by the police in Tamil Nadu last week in three different cases of sexual harassment. A 36-year-old warden of a government-aided children's home in Tiruvannamalai was arrested on, March 13, on the allegations that he had sexually abused seven children residing at the home. The warden Duraipandi and administrator Sagayaraj were arrested. In another case at Melur in Madurai, a 51-year-old science teacher Bharathi, was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing two female students. In yet another case at South Thamaraikulam in Kanniyakumari, a 22-year-old female student of the college alleged that she was sexually harassed by an assistant professor.