Pocso case against teacher: 18 witnesses in charge sheet

“The charge sheet has been filed in the court. It runs into 27 pages and carries statements from 18 of the witnesses. The trial will begin soon,” a police officer told DT Next.

Sources said the individual accounts of the victims and supporting pieces of evidence have been included in the charge sheet.

The accused Rajagopalan, a commerce teacher of PSBB school, was arrested in May after several girl students of the school took to social media to narrate the ordeal they had to put up with him. He was subsequently detained under the Goondas Act and his bail please were rejected by the court multiple times.

Rajagopalan had allegedly touched female students inappropriately in school while making derogatory comments about women and texted inappropriate messages to his students during virtual classes, often commenting on their bodies and clothes.

Rajagopalan was arrested under Pocso Act Sections 11 (when a person commits sexual harassment on a child by uttering words, showcasing his body, etc.) and Section 12 (whoever commits sexual harassment upon a child shall be punished with imprisonment), under IPC Act 354 (a) (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment) and 509 (intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any words, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object); under IT Act section 67 and 67(a) (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form).