Gurugram: Teacher ‘sexually harasses’ girl via Insta, held

Gurugram, May 28

The Gurugram police have arrested a 35-year-old teacher of a private school for sexually harassing a girl student of Class VII of the school through Instagram.

The accused first forced the student to follow his Instagram ID and then started sending her obscene messages. An FIR was registered against the teacher under the POCSO Act at the women police station, Sector 51, on Monday. The police arrested the accused, who confessed to the crime, on Tuesday morning.

According to the complaint filed by the girl’s father, school teacher, identified as Sanju Verma, had pressurised his 12-year-old daughter to follow his Instagram ID with bad intentions.

The complainant said, “Due to this pressure, my daughter followed Verma’s Instagram ID through her mother’s account. Soon after, Verma started sending messages, in which he used obscene language, to my daughter.”

“On May 24, when he again sent her obscene messages, my daughter told me about it and I approached the police on Monday. Strict action should be taken against the teacher,” the victim’s father said.

DCP (crime against women) Virender Vij said the accused had joined the investigation and the police were questioning him.

On the other hand, social worker Ritu Raj, said it was revealed that the accused teacher was a repeat offender. Two other girl students had allegedly left school earlier due to this teacher, Ritu said.

The social worker also accused the police of trying to hush up the case. He said the victim and her parents were kept in the police station for more than 10 hours, and only then the police registered the case.