Headmaster booked for sexually assaulting student

The headmaster of a government school near Pennalurpettai in Tiruvallur, has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for sexually harassing a girl student inside the school premises, recently. Sources said that he was transferred to the school after similar complaints in a school in Vellore.

The Tiruvallur police are currently on the lookout for the headmaster, who is reportedly absconding, after the victim’s family lodged a complaint at the Pennalurpettai police station. According to police, the school which is located in a village near Pennalurpettai and has more than 300 students, both boys and girls, studying from Class 6 to 10.

Though only one student from the school has come forward to register a police complaint, the officers said that she might not be the only victim in the school. The suspect reportedly tried to misbehave with a girl while she was alone in the restroom. In another incident, he reportedly touched a student inappropriately after asking her to arrange the books in a cupboard, according to a letter that was found in a complaint box set up by the Social Defence Department in the school.

The school has no separate room for the headmaster and his cabin was separated by a few cupboards from the classrooms. One of the students reportedly approached her class teacher and complained that the headmaster was misbehaving with her. The class teacher advised her to report it to her parents. The girl told her parents that she doesn’t want to go to the school due to the incident.

Sources added that headmaster had faced similar complaints when he was working in a school in Vellore, after which he was transferred to the present educational institution. The police registered an FIR on Saturday. “We registered a case under POCSO Act and are searching for the headmaster,” the police said.