Coimbatore: A Class 12 student hanged herself to death in Coimbatore, prompting her parents to allege sexual harassment by a school teacher as the reason behind the suicide. Following this, the teacher has been arrested.
The teacher has been identified as Mithun Chakkaravarthi who had taken physics for classes XI and XII at a school in RS Puram. He was booked under sections 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code and 9 (l) (whoever commits sexual assault on the child more than once or reputedly) and 10 (punishment for aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The incidents of assault and harassment are reportedly said to have gone on for six months. According to her mother, the student had asked her parents to change her school repeatedly but did not reveal the reason why. In September, this year, they had shifted her to a different school in the city, the mother added.
The minor girl’s father Makuteshwaran said, ‘Though my daughter had complained against a faculty member named Mithun Chakravarthy, no action was taken against him. Mithun had continuously tortured my daughter but the principal didn’t even take the complaint seriously.’