Tamil Nadu School Teacher Arrested For ‘Marrying’ Her Minor Student

A teacher of a private school in Thuraiyur police in Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu for allegedly ‘marrying’ her 17-year-old student on March 24. The 26-year-old teacher has been booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The student and teacher were both missing since March 5.

The boy’s parents had on March 5 filed an initial missing person’s complaint with police when their son did not return from school that day. When the police began investigating the case, they were informed by the school officials that a teacher—Sharmila—was also missing since that day. During investigation, the police found out that the two were allegedly in a relationship and had eloped that day after school.

Tamil Nadu Teacher Married Minor Student

The police reportedly traced their numbers and found that their phones were switched off at the same time. The police were able to trace the duo down when the mobile phone was operated with a new sim card a few days ago. On tracing the number, the police found their place of residence in Trichy.

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The police were quoted saying that the duo had gotten married at a temple in Thanjavur and had been living in the house. Since the law does not recognize any marriage below 18, the teacher was booked under sections of POCSO, arrested and remanded to police custody while the minor was sent to a juvenile home.

Tamil Nadu in the past week has reported at least three incidents of students being sexually harassed by teachers. A 36-year-old warden of a government-aided children's home in Tiruvannamalai was arrested on, March 13, on the allegations that he had sexually abused seven children residing at the home. Meanwhile, in another case at Melur in Madurai, a 51-year-old teacher Bharathi was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing two female students while an assistant professor in Kanniyakumari was accused of sexually harassing his 22-year-old college student.

On March 23, Wednesday, a 46-year-old physical education teacher of the Government Home for Children in the state’s Ranipet district was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing seven minor boys. The accused Senthil Kumar had been working at the facility for nearly 14 years, the police said.