20 Yrs Jail for Headmaster for Sexually Harassing Girl Students Including One of Class IV

Balangir: The headmaster of an upper primary school was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for sexually harassing girl students by the POCSO court in Odisha’s Balangir on Friday. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict Biswanath Buddhia. He will serve an additional two years in jail if he fails to pay the fine.

The convict was the headmaster of Mursingh Upper Primary School under Deogaon block when he committed the crime.

It was proved in the court that he was calling senior girl students to his office cabin and was sexually assaulting them. He used to threaten the victims of expulsion from school to keep them mum.

His misdeed came to the fore when a victim studying in Class IV informed her parents about it. On August 22, 2022, locals held a demonstration demanding immediate suspension of the headmaster.

Taking the incident seriously, the District Education Officer immediately suspended the erring headmaster.

Following a police investigation, he was arrested by Deogaon police.