• Girl students lock Head Master in office, thrash him
• Cops arrest accused, register case under POCSO Act

Pandavapura/Srirangapatna: A High School Head Master (HM) was locked in the office room and thrashed with sticks and brooms by the girl students for allegedly harassing them sexually. The villagers, with the help of hostel warden, managed to free the accused HM from the students and handed him over to KRS Police.

The Police, who have arrested the teacher under Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, produced him before a Court, which remanded him to judicial custody.

The arrested is 52-year-old Chinmayananda, Head Master of the Government High School at Katteri village in Pandavapura taluk and a resident of J.P. Nagar in Mysuru.

It is learnt that the HM used to stay at the school after closing time and used to reportedly harass girl students of RMSA Hostel, which is adjacent to the school. He is accused of calling the girl students to his office room, behave and speak indecently with them and show them obscene videos. He used to threaten them of murdering if they objected to his behaviour and that he would put ‘bad character’ remark in their Transfer Certificates (TC).

Though the girl students had brought this to the notice of Hostel Warden K.S. Namitha, she was helpless to take action.  

On Wednesday at about 8 pm, the HM came to the hostel fully drunk and the girl students, who locked him inside the office room, picked up sticks and brooms and began to thrash him. Assuming that the Hostel Warden may come to the HM’s rescue, the students had bolted the door of the warden’s room from outside.

The Hostel Warden, who heard the commotion, tried to come out of her room. As the room was bolted from outside, she looked through the window and called the students to open the door. But the students, who told the Warden that it was their problem and she had nothing to do with it, continued to beat the Head Master.

Soon, villagers rushed to the hostel, convinced the students not to take law in their hands and  convinced them to open the door. The villagers then got hold of the Head Master and handed him over to KRS Police.

Based on the complaint from Hostel Warden Namitha at about 10.30 pm, KRS Police, who registered a case under POCSO Act, IPC Section 354A, 354D, 506 and 509, arrested the accused and produced him before a Court which remanded him to judicial custody.

Meanwhile, the parents of the students, who assembled in the school premises yesterday morning, staged a protest and demanded the authorities to sack the Head Master.