Tamil Nadu Police arrest school principal, teacher after Class 12 student dies by suicide
The girl had claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the teacher in her school in Coimbatore.
The Tamil Nadu Police on Sunday arrested the principal of a private school in Coimbatore city, three days after a Class 12 student died by suicide after alleging that she was sexually assaulted by her teacher, The Hindu reported.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) said that the principal, Meera Jackson, was arrested for failing to report the alleged assault to the police, which is a crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The police traced Jackson, who had been absconding since Friday, to Bengaluru through her mobile phone location, The New Indian Express reported. She was arrested later.
The police had arrested the teacher, Mithun Chakravarty, on Friday and filed a first information report against him for abetment of suicide and provisions of the POCSO Act dealing with sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault.
The sexual assault is alleged to have taken place between March and May, Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore Deepak Damor said, according to the Hindustan Times. Chakravarty had allegedly asked the student to come to school when classes were being conducted online. He claimed that he would conduct special classes and then sexually assaulted her.
The girl had told a friend about the assault two months later, and they subsequently informed the principal about it.
The police are reportedly investigating a note that the girl wrote before she died. The note says that a teacher, the father of a girl and the grandfather of another girl should not be spared.
The police are investigating whether the girl was sexually assaulted by anyone else, and whether there were any causes that pushed her to die by suicide.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji visited the girl’s parents on Sunday, according to The Hindu. The ministers informed the parents about the principal’s arrest, after which the family accepted the girl’s body from the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. The body was cremated on Sunday afternoon.