Rajasekaran R K By

MADURAI: Human rights activists and women advocates are pressing for professional counselling for a 26-year-old former school teacher from Tirunelveli district who eloped with her minor student.

The teacher has been jailed for abduction. According to the activists and advocates, the teacher who was reportedly at the early stage of pregnancy could be affected both physically and mentally. She could be more disturbed than the boy who has now returned to his parents, they said.

The 16-year-old boy, a resident of Kadayanallur, was studying in a private school in Tenkasi, where he got into a relationship with one of his teachers. When the school authorities learnt about the relationship, they suspended her. The boy then enrolled for tuition classes being conducted by the teacher and thus the relationship continued. In March 2015, the teacher and student eloped, said a source.

The boy’s mother lodged a case and filed a Habeas Corpus Petition (HCP) before the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, with whose intervention, the police traced the duo in Tirupur, where they found working in a garment factory.

While the boy expressed his willingness to go back to his parents when he was produced before the court, the teacher, facing abduction charges and booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, was sent to the Special Prison for Women, Trichy, the source added.

Talking to Express, A Marx, a Human Rights activist, said that the relationship between an older woman and a younger man was barely accepted by the society. It has been portrayed better in a few Tamil movies, he said. “We should not have only the legal approach in this case where it seems that the relationship lasted with the consent of the minor partner, and there was no force,” he said.

D Geetha, a woman lawyer practicing at the HC bench, said the central government has recently passed a bill lowering the age from 18 to 16 for trial before the courts under the laws for adults. “If the case is seen from that angle, the teacher may not be considered as an accused though the boy is a victim and not the accused,” she said.

“The boy may not have to struggle in life as hard as the teacher, who is now four months pregnant. While IPC sections are women-oriented, the POCSO Act favours both boys and girls when they are affected sexually,” said S Anusha, another lawyer. Anusha strongly felt that the teacher should be given proper counselling.