Vasai school rape: Principal, supervisor booked for not reporting crime to cops

MUMBAI: Almost 10 days after a 30-year-old Vasai schoolteacher was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting his 14-year-old student for the last five months, the Pelhar police on Thursday booked the principal and supervisor after they failed to report the matter to the police when the minor revealed the matter to them.
They allegedly neglected the complaint of the minor when the teacher first tried to molest her. The principal also did not get the girl medically examined, even after she fell unconscious in the school after being raped by the teacher.
According to the victim’s brother, when he went to the school to confront the principal, he was threatened and beaten up. “If the principal had taken action in 2022, my sister would not have been raped,” he said.
The minor, who could not bear the torture anymore, revealed the ordeal to her parents and the teacher was arrested. According to the police, the accused had been blackmailing and sexually assaulting the girl, who went to the same school, and to his private tuition classes as well, since March 2024.
The accused had allegedly threatened to kill her if she told her parents about the rape. On Friday, when the girl returned home from tuition, she complained of pain in her stomach and private parts to her parents. Upon further interrogation, she revealed about the rape and her parents approached the police.
Based on the girl’s family’s statements, the police began investigating the school authorities’ role. “The parents of the girl told us that in 2022, she had complained to the school supervisor that the teacher had touched her inappropriately. But they ignored the complaint and beat up the girl’s brother who went to the school to confront the teacher,” said Jitendra Vankoti, senior police inspector of Pelhar police station.
After investigating the case, police found that the girl had fallen unconscious inside the school, but the school authorities did not get her medically examined. Based on these facts a case was registered against the principal and supervisor under section 21 (2) of the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act and sections 115 (2) and 351(2) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita for threatening and criminal intimidation.
“There should be a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up in this case as there are many girls who have been victimised by the teacher,” claims the victim’s brother.
The police officers said that the two will be produced before the court on Friday.