A volley of complaints by parents against a teacher, who rubbed the vibhooti and saffron off from the foreheads of government high school students near Thuraiyur in the Tiruchirapalli district and conducted a lesson on atheism, has caused a stir.
Shanmugam is working as a math teacher in a government high school in Perumal Palayam, Thuraiyur, in the Tiruchirapalli district. The teacher, who identifies as a follower of Periyar, is accused to have preached atheism to students and insulted their religious beliefs. Shanmugam, who had protested against schoolgirls wearing bangles, flowers, and sacred threads on their wrists, at one point, wiped the vibhooti and saffron from the students’ foreheads and had scolded them using obscene words.
It is said that Shanmugam was also involved in cutting and removing the sacred threads worn by some students with scissors. There were also complaints against him saying that he performed sexual misconduct with a few female students on the pretext of guiding them.
The parents of the victims had then lodged a complaint with the Trichy District Police. A complaint was also filed with the district education office. Based on the complaint, the education authorities conducted a serious investigation on the victim student and the teacher on the orders of the Trichy District Principal Education Officer.
The investigation report was forwarded to the higher authorities of the education department through the Principal Education Officer. The district primary education officer said that action would be taken against teacher Shanmugam in a couple of days. At the same time, the parents of the victims have expressed that they expect the police to take immediate action against the teacher who behaved inappropriately with the students under the POCSO Act.
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