Bareilly (UP), Sep 18 (PTI) A teacher of an inter college here has been booked for allegedly molesting a minor student belonging to the scheduled caste, police said on Monday.

Three teams have been formed to arrest the absconding accused, they added.

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According to police, a 13-year-old Dalit student of Class 7 had gone to the inter-college to take a test on September 4, when Naresh Pal Gangwar allegedly called her to his room, locked it from inside and molested her.

When the girl resisted, the accused thrashed her. He also allegedly threatened her that he would fail her in the test if she told anyone about the incident and insulted her with casteist remarks, the police said.

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The student's father on September 16 filed a complaint against the teacher at the CB Ganj police station here, following which Gangwar was booked under relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, SP (City) Rahul Bhati said.

Bhati said three teams have been formed to arrest Gangwar, a resident of Kharka village of the Fatehganj West area here.

Before the FIR was lodged, the student had submitted a written complaint to the inter-college principal, based on which the management issued a notice to Gangwar seeking his reply, the college administration said.

After receiving the accused teacher's reply, a written report was sent to the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS), it added.

The DIOS formed an investigation team to look into the matter and suspended the teacher, the college administration said.

CB Ganj police station in-charge said that Gangwar had molested two girl students earlier. He had even threatened the girl students to expel them from the school. However, the matter was dismissed when the girls' family members learnt about the incident and he apologized to them.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)