School teacher gets 5 years’ RI for molesting minor girls

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The sessions court Judge N S Momin has sentenced a teacher to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined ₹10,000 on charge of making obscene advances towards minor girls and brutally assaulting a student. The convicted teacher has been identified as Vijay Sitaram Hiwale (50, a resident of Sangharshnagar, Mukundwadi).

CCTV footage confirms the offence

According to the complaint filed by the headmaster of a school in the Hudco area, Vijay Hiwale was a primary school teacher and the class teacher of Standard 5 (Section A), teaching mathematics. Several verbal complaints had been received from students regarding his behaviour. Following these complaints, the complainant examined the school’s CCTV footage.

The footage dated 8 April 2023 showed teacher Hiwale hitting the head of a student with a stick and also misbehaving with two minor age girl students. The girls panicked with his sexual advances in the footage. Besides, it was also seen in the CCTV footage that the teacher is beating the 13-year-old (7th class standard) student till he falls on the ground.

After realising the serious nature of the incident, the headmaster informed the management of the institution. The management personally viewed the CCTV footage, noted the gravity of the matter, and instructed that an immediate complaint be filed. Accordingly, a case was registered at Mukundwadi Police Station on July 10, 2023.

Hearing and sentence

During the hearing, assistant public prosecutor Dnyaneshwari Nagula/Doli recorded the statements of witnesses. At the conclusion of the trial, the court found the accused, Vijay Hiwale, guilty under Section 354(A) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 8 and 10 of the POCSO Act, and sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and a fine of ₹10,000. In default of payment of the fine, the accused will have to undergo an additional six months of simple imprisonment.