12 March,2026 12:01 PM IST | Bhandara | mid-day online correspondent
The teacher was produced in a local court, which remanded him to police custody for three days. Representational Pic/File
A 54-year-old teacher of a Zilla Parishad (ZP)-run government school has been arrested for allegedly molesting girl students in Bhandara district of Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday, reported the PTI.
According to police, the girl students of Classes 3 and 4 were allegedly molested on multiple occasions by the suspect.
It said that the molestation incidents took place between July 2025 and March 7, 2026, at the government-run school in Pauni taluka of the district.
The accused teacher, who was arrested on March 10, used to inappropriately touch girl students of Classes 3 and 4, misbehave with them and also show the minors obscene videos on his mobile phone, police said, according to the PTI.
On March 9, one of the victims informed about the teacher's misbehaviour to a female cook of the school. Subsequently, the cook contacted her parents, who then filed a police complaint against the teacher. Later, four more students came forward and spoke about the teacher's misdeeds.
Pauni police station in-charge Nilesh Brahmane said the accused was arrested the next day and booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as per the PTI.
On Wednesday, the teacher was produced in a local court, which remanded him to police custody for three days.
Zilla Parishad schools are state-run institutes managed by a rural local government body (ZP).
Meanwhile, the Bhandara ZP Chief Executive Officer has issued orders suspending the teacher and constituting a committee to inquiry into allegations against him, the news agency reported.
Meanwhile, in an another incident the police had arrested two men for allegedly stalking and harassing a Portuguese solo traveller for a selfie near Dhobi Ghat after a video of the incident went viral on social media last week.
The accused, Mansukhkumar Chandkishor Sharma, 22, and Gulshankumar Naresh Sharma, 20, arrested by the Agripada Police based on the video footage and inquiries in the area.
The case pertains to an incident on February 25 at the Dhobi Ghat viewing deck in Mahalaxmi, a popular tourist spot where visitors gather to observe the historic open-air laundry. The Portuguese woman, who has been documenting her India tour on social media, had visited the location when the two men allegedly began following her.
According to the police, the accused repeatedly asked her for a selfie despite her clearly refusing. The episode lasted for nearly 15 minutes. Police had registered a suo motu FIR after the video surfaced online.
(with PTI inputs)
