Girl students accuse teacher of 'sexual misconduct' Ranchi administration begins probe

Ranchi, Aug 20 (PTI) A three-member committee, formed by the Ranchi district administration of Jharkhand, on Wednesday began its probe after several girl students of a school accused a teacher of sexual misconduct, an official said.
    The state education department received an anonymous letter detailing the students' plight and the teacher's alleged obscene remarks made through chats and video calls, he said.
    Taking cognisance of the matter, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri on Tuesday night directed the district education officer (DEO) and district superintendent of education (DSE) to conduct a probe.
    "The DSE formed a three-member committee to investigate the matter. The committee visited the school on Ranchi's Ratu Road on Wednesday. Action will be taken against the teacher based on the report of the committee," DEO Vinay Kumar told PTI.
    The DSE said he himself visited the school during the day but the accused teacher was not present.
    "The accused school teacher was not available at school today. We have sent him a notice asking him to either appear tomorrow or it will be assumed that he has accepted all the charges. So, we require a minimum of 48 hours for that purpose," DSE Badal Raj told PTI.
    He said the committee has been asked to prepare a detailed investigation report and submit it in 48 hours.
    "I visited the school around 10 am and interacted with the teachers and students, especially the girl students of classes 7 and 8. However, the teachers and students pretended that they were unaware of such an incident," Raj said.
    He added that it is a minority school and the school management committee is authorised to take any decision.
    "I can only recommend, and my recommendations will be based on the probe report," Raj said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)