A school teacher at a Thiruvananthapuram government school has been booked for the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy. The boy suffers from autistic spectrum disorder and recently became very hyperactive, sleepless and uninterested in food.

He revealed to his speech therapist in the last week of July that his Math teacher Santhosh was sexually abusing and assaulting him. 

The teacher is now absconding, and a case has been registered against him for sexually abusing the boy, under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. 

What Happened?

Initially, the boy revealed that someone was touching him inappropriately, and later revealed the name of the teacher.

“His mother said that he had been tearing at his clothes, and was not able to sleep at night,” The News Minute quoted Dr Priyanka, a speech therapist at the Institute for Communicative and Cognitive Neuro Sciences (ICCONS), as saying. 

The accused, who was helping the student with extra classes, had been abusing him over a period of several weeks and threatened to kill his mother if he revealed to her what had happened to him. 

With the help of pictures, the student confided to his therapist and mother how he was being abused. He said that the teacher had once beat him with a stick, pushed him into a bathroom and stamped him. According to the mother, he came back home with muddied pants that day.

When the boy was taken to the school by the police, he was scared at the sight of the place.

“When the police took the boy to the school for getting proof, he showed the staff bathroom and then the Maths teacher’s desk,” Dr Priyanka said.

What Is The School Saying?

A video of the boy describing what happened to him was taken by the mother and her brother. Even before the mother approached the Principal, some teachers from the school visited her to ask if they had any complaint against Santhosh. 

“Santhosh seems to have told them that he had hit the boy with a stick and the family was going to complain about it. The mother then showed the teachers the video they recorded of the boy. The teachers immediately became defensive of Santhosh and claimed the boy was lying, ” Dr Priyanka said.

“He is ten and autistic, and they called him a liar. The family is not even from Thiruvananthapuram to have any sort of previous scores to settle with Santhosh. They are from Kannur,” Dr Priyanka said. 

The school staff have continuously denied the allegations, alleging that the family is spreading videos to shame the school.

Also Read: Kerala: 63-Yr-Old Madrasa Teacher Arrested For Sexually Abusing Over A Dozen Minors