The Kushaiguda police on Friday arrested 54-year-old K Mahapatra, the Principal of the Atomic Energy Central School-2 in ECIL in Hyderabad, for allegedly molesting a 14-year-old student.
According to the police, the incident occurred on October 28, but came to light recently, after the girl told her mother.
“The incident occurred on October 28. When the girl told her parents about the incident after much hesitation, they approached the school management and lodged a complaint. A management meeting was held and the principal was suspended a few days ago,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Syed Rafeeq was quoted as saying.
In a press release, the police said that the girl, studying in Class 9, was about to take her bag and leave school, when she was called in by the Principal into his cabin.
According to the victim, he was in an inebriated state and offered her snacks and lassi to drink. She took it and was about to leave her cabin, when the accused locked the door, held her and kissed her.
When she raised an alarm, the accused opened the door after making her promise that she would not talk about the incident to anyone else.
A case was registered under Section 354A (Sexual Harassment) of the IPC and Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
This comes just two days after the same Kushaiguda police arrested an 85-year-old man for allegedly raping a class 7 Dalit student.
The police said that the accused, identified as a retired railway employee N Satyanarayana Rao, also allegedly raped and sexually assaulted five other girls, all from the same school, over the past year.
According to reports, he would lure the girls with chocolates and sweets, before taking them to his house, where he would rape them, and threaten them to keep quiet. All his victims are said to be 12 years old or younger.