The headmaster of a government school in Karnataka’s Mandya district was thrashed by students for allegedly molesting a minor girl in the hostel.

The headmaster, Chinmayananand also behaved with students inappropriately and many complaints from students had the police arrest him.

The headmaster, identified as Chinmayanand, was arrested under sections 354 A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 4, 10, and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

According to the police, the incident took place on Wednesday night when he called one of the students to his room and tried to misbehave.

The girl later ran back to her fellow hostellers and raised alarm bells over the incident. The girls then thrashed Chinmayanand with sticks.

In one of the videos of the incident that went viral on social media platforms, one of the students can be heard questioning, “Why are you touching her, sir? Did we do anything wrong? Are you even eligible to be a headmaster?”.

Yet another girl was seen complaining in the video that she had been harassed previously as well by Chinmayanand.

Students claimed that he nudged them to watch obscene videos, used abuse and inappropriate language while conversing with them. “Some of them said that he touched them inappropriately as well. We are collecting more information. We have booked a suo motu case,” the officer said.

The accused worked with the school for six years now and the matter is being considered even by the deputy director of public instruction.

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