Akola ZP school teacher arrested for molesting minor students

NAGPUR: Amid raging protests over sexual assaults on girls/ women in Kolkata and Badlapur, a 42-year-old school teacher was arrested on Tuesday by the Akola police for allegedly showing pornographic videos to six class eight students and molesting them. The accused, Pramod Sardar, had been sexually exploiting the girls inside the Kazikhed Zilla Parishad Higher Secondary School premises for nearly four months, said police. The Akola district administration subsequently dismissed Sardar from his job while two other school officials including the principal were suspended.
According to the girls’ complaint, based on which the first information report was registered in the case, Sardar used to show them obscene videos on his mobile and then touch them inappropriately.
The matter came to light after one of the girls placed a call on the child helpline, 1098 and complained about the molestation without revealing her own identity. The child welfare committee (CWC) then intimated the Ural police and they together visited the school on Tuesday.
The police and CWC members held an hour-long discussion with students and teachers. They then spoke to students of classes seven and eight individually with the principal’s permission, during which time the girls opened up about the trauma they had been enduring for months.
“We recorded the statements of the girls and registered a case against the teacher based on the same under sections 74 and 75 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita and the POCSO Act,” said Akola superintendent of police Bachchan Singh.
Ravindra Samdur, the school’s principal, claimed they were unaware of the incident until the CWC team visited the school and spoke to the students. “I was shocked to know about it. If I had known, I would have been the first to act,” he said.
The district administration was quick to take action against the alleged molestor as well as the school staff. “While Sardar was dismissed from service, Samdur and the centre head, Rajesh Hiraman Tayade, were suspended from their jobs on Wednesday itself,” said B Vaishnavi, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Akola zilla parishad.
Former member of the women’s commission Asha Mirje said she was shocked by the incident and demanded the strictest punishment against the teacher. “All other school staff should be held accountable as this was going on in the school for long,” said Mirje.