Baripada: Baisinga police arrested a teacher of government primary school on charges of molesting several girl students on the pretext of showing affection.
According to reports, Pramod Kumar Mahanta, a senior teacher at Pratima Deipur Government Upper Primary School in Betnoti block, was arrested by police on Tuesday afternoon on basis of a complaint filed by the school headmistress last month.
According to the complaint, Mahanta allegedly molested seven to eight minor girls in his class under the guise of offering affection until one victim disclosed the ordeal to her family. To evade consequences, he reportedly leveraged his social connections and financial influence to secure a settlement and silence potential complainants.
After the matter came to light last month, the teacher was immediately suspended by the Block Education Officer. However, it took seven days for the school authorities to file a written complaint with the police.
After media coverage and intervention by the District Collector, a case was registered against Mahanta under sections 75/79 of the BNS and the POCSO Act. The police launched an investigation and attempted to arrest him, but he went into hiding and moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail.
Police, however, managed to arrest Mahanta on Tuesday almost after a month and produced him in court after medical examination.
