Gujarat school teacher held for sexually harassing minor student

'The teacher had been repeatedly harassing the minor student, insisting her to establish physical relations with him and also chat with him on social media,' said Deputy Superintendent of Police Kamlesh Vasava.

Mahisagar (Gujarat): Police have arrested a physical training teacher of a government school in Gujarat's Mahisagar district on charges of sexually harassing and threatening a 16-year-old girl student, an official said on Sunday.

Angry over the incident, a group of persons on Saturday evening vandalised the high school, located at Ranjitpura village in Virpur taluka of the district, Deputy Superintendent of Police Kamlesh Vasava told reporters.

"The teacher had been repeatedly harassing the minor student, insisting her to establish physical relations with him and also chat with him on social media," he said.

The student confided in her relatives, after which they went to complain about it to the school principal, the official said.

A group of angry villagers vandalised the educational institution.

After the police were alerted, they reached the school on Saturday evening and arrested the teacher, Vasava said.

An FIR was registered against the teacher under sections 75 (criminal force on woman with intention of disrobing or compelling her to be naked) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and section 12 (sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

Police have also initiated action against those who damaged the school premises, he added.