A government school teacher was arrested in Chandigarh on Thursday for allegedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy who went to her for private tuition, reported the Hindustan Times. The boy’s parents had confronted the woman on Monday, after which they called Childline, a helpline for children in distress, and were told to file a police complaint.

“We have registered a case under Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,” Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police Nilambari Vijay Jagdale told the daily. The teacher was produced before a POCSO court and remanded in judicial custody.

Advertisement

The boy, a Class 10 student, and the 34-year-old woman live in the same neighbourhood and the families know each other. The boy’s younger sister also took tuition at the woman’s house since September.

“The teacher requested the boy’s parents to send their daughter for tuition separately so that she could “focus” on their son,” Sangeeta Jund, project director of Childline, Chandigarh, told the Hindustan Times. She said the parents agreed and the teacher “started luring the boy”.

As his grades did not improve, the boy’s mother discontinued the tuition. Jund said the teacher had grown possessive of the boy by this time and then contacted his parents in April, asking them to send the boy for tuition. She even told the parents to meet her with their son at her house on Monday, said Jund.

Advertisement

When the boy’s parents took him to the woman’s house on Monday, she allegedly locked him up in a room. “She asked her husband to stay out of the matter and kept screaming that the boy will stay with her,” said Jund.

After the boy was rescued with help from neighbours and taken home, the woman followed them, barged into their house and consumed cough syrup, The Times of India reported. The boy’s parents then called the police and the woman was taken to a hospital.

“The boy opened up to our counsellors about the sexual assaults that were being inflicted upon him since March and that is when the real story came to light,” Jund told The Tribune. The teacher had allegedly given the boy a SIM card to stay in touch, and sent him emotional text messages, Jund said.