The Jharkhand Police on Saturday arrested the director of a non-governmental organisation in Khunti district after over 15 students accused him of sexual assault, The Indian Express reported.
Khunti Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar told the newspaper that the accused runs an institute in the district. As per the complaint, he allegedly used to call girls to a private chamber there, and sexually harass them on the pretext of giving them a “tolerance test”.
The complaint against the man was filed by social activist Lakhsmi Bakhla. “After initial probe, the director has been arrested,” Shekhar said.
The matter came to light after the activist received a phone call from one of the students, who told her she that had been sexually assaulted by the institute director for several months. Eventually, other students made similar confessions.
“Among 15 students, 10 came forward and told me that the director, in the name of extra classes, used to call them in their rooms for tolerance tests,” Bakhla said in her complaint. “The man used to say the tests were important and that the girls should not tell anyone.”
The police then launched an inquiry into the allegations. On Saturday it registered a first information report against the accused under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 (assault or criminal force with an intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
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