On September 3rd, authorities in the Rajouri district said that a government school teacher had been detained on suspicion of sexually abusing and harassing female pupils at a government secondary school.
The education department recently transferred a teacher from Government Higher Secondary School Saaj in Thanamandi sub division to Sunderbani school after the problem was brought to their attention.
According to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), a group of female students at Government Higher Secondary School Saaj in Thanamandi had filed a complaint against a teacher there for allegedly abusing and harassing the pupils.
After contacting the police, CWC reportedly received confirmation that a FIR had been filed at Thanamandi police station, and the accused instructor had been detained.
On the complaint of the child welfare committee, FIR No. 129/2023 U/Ss 8/12 POCSO act was filed at Thanamandi police station. This was reported by Adv Shivanghi Kant, the Legal Cum Probationary Officer of CWC Rajouri.
She also said that counselling was made available to all of the victims.
She said that the Child Welfare Committee team will be visiting the school on Monday to meet with more pupils.
Concerning the complaint, she said that a group of seven or eight girls had come forward to the committee with written allegations of physical and verbal abuse by their instructor, Ashrif Qureshi, dating back at least a year.
Adv. Shivanghi Kant said that “the girls also narrated that more than 20 girls were abused and two girls landed into trauma and depression.”
