Sexual assault of nine-year-old girl at Manapparai private school triggers tension

Protests erupt after alleged sexual assault on 9-year-old in CBSE school, leading to arrests and police intervention.

An alleged sexual assault on a nine-year-old girl studying in a private CBSE school near Manapparai in Tiruchi district sparked protests in the late hours on Thursday (February 6, 2025) with a group of people vandalising a nearby matriculation school belonging to the same management and staging a road roko on the Tiruchi - Dindigul national highway.

The school trustee who is alleged to have sexually harassed a fourth standard girl; his wife, the secretary, the school chairman, deputy secretary and the school principal were all arrested in connection with the crime committed against the minor girl, a police press release said on Friday.

The Manapparai All Women Police have registered a case under sections 9 (f), 9 (m), 10, 19, 21 (i) of the POCSO Act against the accused on a complaint lodged by the affected girl’s grandmother. The main accused is undergoing treatment as an in-patient at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchi after he was allegedly manhandled by the girl’s parents and relatives.

Police sources said the issue came to light after the minor girl - a class IV student - complained to her parents that the man had sexually assaulted her in the school on Thursday morning. The grandmother of the affected girl later lodged a complaint at the Manapparai All Women Police the same night stating the man committed the crime in the school after asking the teacher to leave the classroom, the release said.

Also Read: Assistant Headmaster of government school arrested for sexual harassment of girl students in Manapparai

The issue, however, took a turn for the worse in the late hours on Thursday when a group of people went to the matriculation school nearby and pelted stones at the glass panes besides damaging a car that was parked inside the institution.

Another group of people resorted to a road roko at Nochimedu on the Tiruchi - Dindigul national highway bypass road for over 30 minutes condemning the incident and demanding action. The protest prompted the intervention of the police personnel with the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Tiruchi Range V. Varun Kumar and Superintendent of Police, Tiruchi Selva Nagarathinam present at the spot. The protesters dispersed after the police held talks with them.