Odisha: Girl Student Sexually Harassed,' Accused Teacher Arrested

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha police on Thursday arrested a teacher of an English medium school in Sambalpur district for allegedly sexually harassing a Class IX girl student.

According to Sambalpur Sub Collector, Puspanjali Panda, a police complaint was lodged against the teacher by the school principal following which the cops took him into custody.

The accused teacher was identified as Arun Kumar Joshi.

“Following the complaint, police inspectors of Khetrajpur and Bareipali police stations visited the school on Thursday and spoke to the victim and school authorities. I have spoken to the complainant and legal action will be taken against the accused as per the due procedure,” said the Sub-Collector.

“The girl student came forward with the complaint, which is commendable. Exemplary action will be taken against the teacher if he is proven guilty in court,” she added.

Initially, the police questioned the teacher in the school and later took him to the police station.

Asked about the allegations, school principal Prashant Kumar Sarangi said, “Action will be taken as per the law.”

Sources said on the eve of the school’s annual function held recently, the accused teacher called some girls students to his chamber to teach them anchoring. While teaching them anchoring, he allegedly misbehaved with one of the girls.

Though the complainant first drew the attention of the class teacher, there was allegedly no response to her grievance. Later, she later lodged a complaint with the principal who informed the police about the incident.