(Representative image)

VILLUPURAM: A 43-year-old teacher in a government-aided school at Chinna Salem in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu has been arrested on charges of proposing his love to a Class 8 girl student by presenting a rose to her on the Valentine’s Day (February 14).

His colleague, a physical education teacher, was also arrested for forcing the girl, who spurned the proposal, to reconsider her decision.

The arrested were identified as secondary grade teacher M Nirmal Premkumar and his colleague S Lawrence, 31, hailing from Melmariappanur village in the district. Both are married and have children.

District education officials said Nirmal presented a rose to a Class 8 girl student in the classroom in front of other students on Valentine’s Day to express his love for her. The girl refused to receive the rose and spurned his proposal. Nirmal forced the flower into her hand. The girl avoided interaction with the teacher for the rest of the day after the harassment.

The teacher sought the help of Lawrence to convince the girl to accept his proposal and not to reveal the issue to anyone. Lawrence, on summoning the girl, attempted to convince her to accept Nirmal’s proposal. He even threatened that she may not be in a position to continue her studies if she rejected the proposal and revealed the incident to anyone. However, the girl refused to heed to the physical education teacher’s ‘advice’.

The girl was upset over the incident. Later, her parents found her crying. They consoled her. The girl narrated the incident to them. Enraged, her parents and relatives staged a protest in front of the school demanding the immediate arrest of the two teachers.

They lodged a complaint with the district education officials besides a police complaint. “The education department on Monday ordered a probe into the incident and placed secondary grade teacher (Nirmal) and physical education teacher (Lawrence) under suspension pending inquiries,” said a district-level education official.

The girl’s parents lodged a complaint with the Kallakuruchi all-woman police, who booked Nirmal under sections 11 (sexual harassment) and 12 (punishment for sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012 and Lawrence under Section 17 (punishment for abetment) of the Pocso act. The police produced them before the Kallakuruchi judicial magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody.

