In the top, all it took was a Facebook submit to unravel many years of alleged sexual abuse of scholars in a college — a photograph posted by the alleged perpetrator himself to mark his retirement as a instructor.
On Friday, the instructor, who can be a CPM councillor in Kerala’s Malappuram district, was arrested on the cost of sexually abusing lady college students on the college the place he had labored for 30 years.
Police mentioned the accused retired in March this 12 months. CPM sources mentioned he has resigned from the submit of councillor on the celebration’s instructions. Protests have been additionally held in Malappuram by youth and ladies’s teams, alleging that police had dragged their ft on arresting the CPM chief within the Left-ruled state.
Police sources mentioned seven complaints have been obtained so removed from former college students of the college.
Best of Express Premium
“At present, we have registered only a single POCSO case, based on the complaint from a woman, who said the teacher had abused her when she was a junior student. In the other six complaints, the complainants are older,” mentioned a police officer in Malappuram.
“As per these complaints, the alleged sexual abuse befell earlier than 2012, the 12 months the POCSO Act got here into impact. Hence, extra circumstances can be registered solely after acquiring authorized opinion,’’ the officer mentioned.
Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty mentioned his division would probe whether or not there had been any lapse on a part of the college administration in reporting the alleged abuse.
The state’s Director-General of Education Jeevan Babu has been directed to submit a report, Sivankutty mentioned.
According to police, the allegations of sexual abuse emerged final month after instructor posted on Facebook {a photograph} of his retirement perform.
The first allegation was posted by a former pupil on her Facebook account, referring to the instructor’s retirement submit. In response to her allegation, different former college students wrote that they’d confronted related harassment from the instructor.
A number one advocate and social activist, who’s a consultant of the college’s alumni association, mentioned the accused had “a strategy to target five to six girls in a class”. “He had taught junior courses throughout his profession. Our estimate is that he might need abused 400-500 college students throughout his profession,’’ the advocate informed reporters.
According to the advocate, the college administration took no motion regardless of a criticism filed with its Ethics Committee in 2019. “The teachers kept silent when they should have been helping the students… many children haven’t even realised that what happened to them was abuse,” she mentioned.
There was an try and file a police criticism however that was allegedly sabotaged, based on the advocate.
“When students complained about the teacher, they were scolded. The teachers were of the view that the students faced such an experience because they had flirted with the alleged accused. In two incidents, the survivors were on the brink of suicide. He had brutally abused some of the students. We have information about around 25 such incidents,” she mentioned.
