In Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, Shiksha Mitra of a government school has been accused of ‘bad touch’.
In this case, the police have arrested the accused and started legal action. However, the accused has denied all the charges.
This incident took place in the village of Madhapura under Talbehat police station.
Here the girls of a government school told the female teachers that Shiksha Mitra touches them inappropriately.
After this, the police arrested the accused. The education department has formed a separate district-level committee to investigate.
According to school principal Sushma Richharia, some girls had complained about such behavior to the female teachers.
Actually, when the female teachers of the school were giving information to the girls about bad touch and good touch, then this matter came to light.
Considering the complaint of the girl students against the accused Shiksha Mitra as serious, the Principal complained to the Block Education Department on 18 October.
After this, on October 22, the Additional Basic Education Officer with his team and the village head himself reached the school for investigation.
Even during the investigation by the education officer, there was no difference in the statements of the female students.
Complaint & Arrest
However, village head Roop Singh Yadav told the BBC that the accused teacher has denied all these allegations.
School Principal Sushma Richhariya told BBC that she has been teaching in the school since 2016.
When he joined the school on October 14 after taking medical leave a few days ago, this complaint came to light.
However, the principal says that he had never received such a complaint before.
Education Department official Samar Singh Gaur confirmed the incident to BBC Hindi and said that for this the department has formed a committee at the district level for investigation.
The village head says that during the investigation, the accused had said that he was trying to tell the children that he did this for love, but a girl alleged that he was doing wrong things.
After this allegation, on October 22, the Education Department removed the accused Shiksha Mitra from the school and posted him at the block-level center.
A committee has been formed at the district level in this case and the investigation report of the committee is awaited.
Police area officer Kuldeep Kumar informed that a police investigation is going on after the arrest of the accused.
According to the police, many girls of the government school of this village had complained to the villagers about the school’s Shiksha Mitra touching them inappropriately.
Angered by this incident, the villagers gathered and complained the school’s Shiksha Mitra in the police station.
CO Talbehat Kuldeep Kumar said while talking to reporters, “After receiving the complaint, a case has been registered under relevant sections the accused teacher has been arrested and an investigation is going on.
Manoj Kumar, a parent, has alleged that girls are being misbehaved in the school and obscene videos are being shown. He has demanded that the entire staff of the school should be changed.
According to the village head, the accused has been serving in Shiksha Mitra School since the year 2006. No such complaint has been received yet.
What is a good touch – a bad touch?
The government is also running a campaign to make children aware of sexual harassment in schools.
Shamsi Akbar, assistant professor of psychology at Unity College, Lucknow, told BBC Hindi, “It is important to tell your children about good touch and bad touch, not only to tell but also to explain to them.”
Professor Shamsi said, “If someone is patting the back of the head, it is considered good touch but if someone If a person tries to inappropriately touch other parts of the body which are covered with clothes, then he will come under the purview of bad touch. Nowadays, it is important to tell children that in such situations they should say ‘no’ or run away from there and tell their parents about the incident that happened to them.”
“There is a safe circle, which usually consists of parents, siblings, and grandparents,” she said. There is an unsafe circle, which can include friends of the parents, house servants, drivers, and outside teachers and other relatives.”
Kerala State Legal Services Authority has given a report in the High Court, in which it has been recommended to remove the terms bad touch and good touch and use the terms safe, secret touch unsafe touch, or unnecessary touch.
Information for children
Child Health Journal of Sri Lanka has published an Indian study, in which 200 children from North India were included.
The authors of this study are Rimjhim Tyagi and Bindu Nair of Sharda University.
According to this report, when students were asked about Good Touch-Bad Touch, 61 percent knew a little about it, while 39 percent of children did not know at all.
61 percent of students who knew Good Touch-Bad Touch were given different levels depending on their level of knowledge and awareness.
Of these, 20 percent is considered excellent, 63 percent is good and 17 percent is considered average.
According to a report published in the National Library of Medicine in 2009, based on 65 studies from 22 countries, 7.9 percent of boys and 19.7 percent of girls become victims of sexual harassment before the age of 18 years.
Among these, the maximum is 34.4 percent in Africa, 9.2 in Europe, 10.1 in America, and 23.9 percent in Asia.
Sexual Harassment in India.
POCSO law was enacted in India to protect children from sexual harassment, in separate provisions have been made for this.
In a reply given in Parliament in December 2023, the Women and Child Welfare Minister had said that till March 2023, 131886 POCSO cases are pending in the court.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 53874 cases were registered in 2021, out of which 7129 cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh, 6200 in Maharashtra, and 6070 in Kerala.
According to the survey report of the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare in 2007, after talking to 125000 people, it was found that the sexual harassment of children is up to 53 percent, while 20 percent of boys have also become its victims. According to the survey, most of the perpetrators of sexual harassment were either well-informed people or people who were in trustworthy and accountable positions.
According to PIB, as per the information received from the High Courts, till May 2024, 755 fast-track special courts are functioning in 30 states/union territories of the country. Out of which 410 are specifically POCSO courts. These courts have disposed of 2,53,000 cases.
