Madurai (Tamil Nadu): Acting on a complaint made by two schoolgirls of sexual harassment by a male teacher, based on which two women teachers were also booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Madurai police found that the complaint was without substance. IG Asra Garg ordered the registration of a case under the POCSO Act against the school principal who filed a false complaint.
A detailed investigation by Madurai DIG Ponni and SP Siva Prasad revealed that the school headmaster instigated the girls to file a false complaint to settle a personal score with the teachers. The headmaster called 1098 (Childline) on August 6 on written complaints from girls about sexual harassment against the physical education teacher placed in the school's complaint box. Subsequently, the Child Welfare Committee members inquired about the incident and lodged a complaint with the Oomachikulam All Women Police.
As a first step, a POCSO case was registered against the 3 teachers at the Karupayurani Police Station on the same day. Later, one of the accused female teachers informed Inspector General of Police Azra Garg about the false complaint filed against them due to personal enmity between the teachers. When higher officials investigated this case, the children revealed, "We did not write the letter ourselves. We wrote that because the headmaster of the school said so. The physical education teachers did nothing wrong with us".
Following this, the concerned girls were produced before a judicial magistrate. Based on the girls' statements and the witnesses' interrogation, the above complaint was found to be false. Subsequently, the AWPS inspector filed a final report in the case in the POCSO special court on August 11, saying the complaint was bogus.
Accepting this statement, the court closed the case on October 31. This is the first time the POCSO Act has been imposed on the headmaster for inciting female students to file false complaints to take revenge on their fellow teachers in the state. South Zone IG Asra Karg praised the officials including Madurai DIG Ponni, SP Sivaprasad, Oomachikulam DSP and a female police inspector who investigated the case and brought out the truth quickly on the basis that innocent people should not be punished.
