A 16-year-old girl was allegedly molested by a teacher at a private coaching centre in Maharashtra's Nanded city, sparking a protest by local residents who vandalised the facility. The incident occurred on Monday, September 2, and the girl reported it to her parents, a police official said. Following her complaint, an FIR was registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the teacher. The accused has been identified as 48-year-old Nagesh Jadhav who was arrested on September 3.
As the news of the alleged molestation spread, angry local residents gathered at the coaching centre and ransacked it on Monday. No complaint has been filed against the vandalisation of the coaching centre so far. "If no complaint is filed by them (coaching centre owners), we will inquire and register an offence in this case on our own," said the official from the Bhagyanagar police station, as per the news agency PTI.
Woman molested in Thane
In a similar incident last month, the police registered an FIR against a man and his three other family members after he allegedly molested a 19-year-old woman and he and his kin thrashed her brother in Maharashtra's Thane district. The incident took place in Bhiwandi area on August 12. The victim, a ragpicker residing in Sundar Nagar slum colony, was on her way to fetch water from a public tap. Seeing her walking alone on the street, a man approached her, took her behind the bushes and allegedly molested her, the official from Narpoli police station said.
Crime against women on rise
It should be noted here that the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata last month has brought women onto the streets across the country, furious at persistently high levels of sexual violence despite legal reforms and promised crackdowns. As per reports, the cases are still on the rise even after the government brought in sweeping changes to the criminal justice system, including tougher sentences, after the Nirbhaya rape case in 2012.
(With PTI inputs)
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