Teacher arrested under POCSO for calling student "prostitute"

A private tuition teacher from Andheri in Mumbai was arrested under the POCSO act after making accusatory remarks against a 16-year old female student in his class, including terms such as "prostitute" in his diatribe. The 48-year old teacher was taken to the Oshiwara police station where the girl's parents had filed a case against him.

The student alleged that the teacher had launched into a furious rant over having seen a male student's head in her lap during a class on October 29. Around 8-10 students were present in the class. The teacher then proceeded to make several derogatory remarks including allegedly calling her a "prostitute" in front of the entire class.

The girl claimed that the male student's head touched her lap when he bent to pick up something that had dropped on the floor. Her parents approached the Oshiwara police station the next day and registered an FIR against the tutor. Based on her complaint, the tutor was booked under Section 509 (act, word or gesture intended to insult woman's modesty) of the IPC and Section 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act.