Booked for assaulting 6-yr-old student, tuition teacher attempts suicide

Navi Mumbai: Police in Uran have booked a 34-year-old woman for allegedly assaulting a six-year-old girl who was enrolled in her tuition class. The teacher reportedly attempted suicide after the incident and is currently recuperating at a hospital, said police. Her statement is yet to be recorded, they added.
The girl lives with her parents in Jasai village. She was enrolled in the tuition class, conducted at the teacher’s residence in the same village, around three months ago.
“On Monday morning, we had dropped our daughter to the tuition class as usual,” the girl’s mother told HT. “As per schedule, we were supposed to pick her up at 10am. But the teacher requested us to pick her up after an hour, saying she was still to finish her studies.”
When the girl returned home after 11.30am, her parents noticed a few puncture marks on her head and inquired about them. She then said that the teacher had pricked her head with a pen and forcefully pressed her cheeks several times that day.
“My daughter said that she had started bleeding when the teacher pricked her head with a pen, so she washed her hair in a bid to conceal the blood and injuries. This was also the reason why the teacher asked us to pick her up an hour later than usual,” the mother noted. The teacher had dried the girl’s hair in the interim and cautioned her from speaking about the incident with anyone, she added. Other students enrolled in the tuition class who were present on Monday corroborated the girl’s story, saying she had indeed been assaulted by the teacher.
The Uran police subsequently booked the teacher under sections 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita. “We are in the process of getting permission from the court for conducting further investigation in the matter,” said senior police inspector Jitendra Misal.
Meanwhile, the tuition teacher attempted suicide by consuming pills and is currently recuperating in a local hospital, said police. “We are waiting for her to get better so we can record her statement,” said a police officer involved in investigating the case.