Hyd teacher held as students allege sexual abuse after awareness event by SHE teams
The Rachakonda police on Wednesday arrested the teacher of a school in Hyderabad for alleged sexual abuse after his students complained to police officers from the SHE Teams. The incident took place in Ghatkesar mandal, where members of the SHE team conducted an awareness programme on child sexual abuse and explained ‘safe touch, unsafe touch’ to the students of the school.
“Soon after the awareness programme, some of the girls approached the police officers and said that their school teacher had been misbehaving with them for the last two years. If they opposed him, the accused beat them and harassed them more, due to which they were frightened and didn’t disclose the incident earlier,” the police said in a press note.
The police also said that the accused, who had been working at the school since January 2013, had allegedly taken their pictures and continued misbehaving with them, despite his colleagues warning him against it. Following the complaint by the students, the accused was immediately arrested.
A case was registered at the Ghatkesar police station, under section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 8 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012, besides relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The police also said that any women facing harassment under the jurisdiction of the Rachakonda police could approach them on 9490617111 or dial 100.
The SHE teams were instituted first by the Hyderabad police in 2014, specifically to tackle crimes against women and to provide counselling and swift action against the accused. The initiative now has been implemented in several districts in Telangana.
Besides conducting awareness camps, SHE teams also go undercover with discreet cameras and record acts of harassment in crowded public places. Due to such solid evidence of recordings, most of the accused have been convicted.