Punjab: Government school teacher arrested for raping minor Dalit student
A government school teacher in Ludhiana district has been charged with raping a minor Dalit student. He was also charged with conspiring with another male teacher to abort her foetus when she got pregnant, police said. A FIR in this regard was registered at Ludhiana Police Station on Thursday and both the accused teachers were arrested, SSP Ludhiana (Rural) Surjeet Singh said. Whether the abortion had taken place or not is under investigation, the police said. The SSP said a male teacher of another government school in Ludhiana had registered the complaint. Besides the complaint, the complainant teacher had also forwarded an audio clip of nearly four minutes in which the two accused teachers were allegedly discussing ways of getting the 18-year-old student’s abortion done. “The two accused teachers also planned how they would avoid taking along a woman teacher when they take the girl to the hospital,” he said. The victim was also produced before the Duty Magistrate in the presence of her mother and Sarpanch. In the statement, the girl stated that she had taken the admission in Class-9 in the school. When she was studying in Class XI, last year, one of the accused school teacher raped her in the school library, the SSP said. A case under various provisions of IPC, including rape, conspiracy, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the SC/ST Act and under the provisions of the IT Act has been registered against the two accused teachers, the SSP added. -PTC News
