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Crime

Puducherry school teacher arrested for sexually assaulting six-year-old girl student

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Puducherry, Feb 15: Puducherry Police arrested a school teacher for sexually abusing a six-year-old girl student of his school. The teacher identified as Manikandan, who is teaching at a private school was arrested on Saturday.

The child is a Class 1 student in the private school where Manikantan teaches. The incident came to light when the girl complained of physical discomfort and was taken to a hospital, where doctors confirmed that she had been sexually harassed.

The girl’s parents and relatives alleged that the school administration and police failed to take action despite being informed about the incident.

Infuriated by this, over 200 locals and relatives of the child staged a protest and blocked the Puducherry-Cuddalore road, causing a three-hour traffic jam.

On information, the police arrived at the scene and held talks with the protesters after which Manikandan was arrested.

The police have registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and are investigating.

Earlier, three government school teachers of Tamil Nadu were arrested for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at Panchayat Union Middle School in Bargur, Krishnagiri district. The crime, which occurred in early January, only came to light on February 3 when schoolteachers visited the girl’s home to inquire about her prolonged absence.

During their visit, the girl disclosed the sexual assault, which reportedly occurred inside a toilet on the school campus. Following her revelation, the school’s headmistress and the block education officer filed a complaint, leading to the arrest of the three accused teachers on February 4.

Krishnagiri District Collector Dhinesh Kumar confirmed that the girl is being provided mental health support by psychiatrists and psychologists.

The accused teachers have denied the charges but were suspended pending investigation.

In another shocking incident, Tamil Nadu Police have arrested a science teacher at a government school in Yercaud, Salem, for sexually abusing ten female students. The accused, Ilayakannu (37), was arrested by Yercaud Police and charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.

Ilayakannu, who taught science to students in classes 10 and 12, allegedly assaulted ten girls. The incident came to light when one of the victims gathered the courage to inform the school’s headmistress and demanded action against the teacher.

The headmistress immediately reported the matter to officials of the Education Department and the District Child Protection Unit. Following this, an inquiry team visited the school and conducted investigations with the students.

Preliminary inquiries confirmed that the teacher had abused ten students. Based on the complaint filed by the District Child Protection Unit, the Kondalampatti All Women’s Police Station registered a case under the POCSO Act and arrested Ilayakannu.

Further investigations are underway.

The incident sparked outrage, with former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) expressing shock. In a social media post, he criticised the DMK government for failing to ensure students’ safety in government schools and called upon Chief Minister M K Stalin to take full responsibility for the incident.

Crime

Rajasthan CMO gets bomb threat in Jaipur, police launch probe

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Jaipur, Aug 18: Panic gripped Jaipur after the Rajasthan Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) received a bomb threat on Tuesday.

A threatening phone call was received at the Jaipur Police Control Room, prompting police and administrative officials to step up security measures.

Soon after receiving the information, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), Rajarshi Raj, reached the spot and took stock of the situation.

Police teams have launched an investigation to identify the caller and determine the motive behind the threat.

Technical teams are also examining the call details and other available information to trace its origin.

Police officials are treating the threat seriously and are checking whether it poses any actual security risk.

Further details are awaited as the investigation continues.

This is not the first time that prominent locations in Jaipur have received bomb threats.

In July 2025, both the Chief Minister’s Office and Jaipur International Airport were reportedly threatened through emails.

Security agencies, including bomb disposal teams, conducted searches at the locations, but no explosives were found.

Jaipur has also witnessed several similar threats targeting schools, the airport, metro stations, court complexes and the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

On May 30, 2025, a bomb threat was reported at Mansarovar Metro Station and the Metro Court-Family Court complex.

The Sawai Mansingh Stadium also received multiple bomb threats in May 2025.

Earlier in July 2025, Maheshwari Girls Public School in Vidhyadhar Nagar received a threatening email.

The school premises were evacuated and thoroughly searched by security teams. However, no explosive device was found.

The repeated threats have raised concerns over security in Jaipur, particularly as several high-profile government and public locations have been targeted in the past.

Police are now working to establish the identity of the person behind Tuesday’s call and determine whether the threat was genuine or a hoax.

Security agencies are maintaining heightened vigilance around the CMO and other sensitive locations in the city.

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Crime

SC seeks replies from Centre, intermediaries on plea against police sharing photos of accused on social media

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New Delhi, Aug 18: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre, sates and intermediaries to respond to a plea aimed at preventing police officials from uploading photos and videos of an accused on social media to safeguard the latter’s fundamental right to fair trial.

Taking note of the petitioner’ view that revealing identities of accused could prejudice their right to fair trial, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymala Bagchi and Justice V Mohana took note of a suggestion for having in place guidelines for use of social media by police organisations.

At the same time, CJI Surya Kant wondered how preventing police from sharing photos online could prevent the circulation of the content in the digital ecosystem.

“his is not a border that you can just close down,” CJI Kant said, agreeing with the need to prevent the uploading of content that reveals faces or identities of accused.

During the hearing, petitioner Hemendra Patel was represented by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan who shared images and videos depicting accused in handcuffs or being made to kneel.

Stressing on the need for uniform guidelines at the national level, Sankaranarayanan said that there is a crying need for an operational mechanism to prevent police-generated content violating the rights of an accused, who is still to be proved guilty.

He added that similar issues have been examined in some High Courts earlier but there is scope for a uniform national framework to prevent police organisations from circulating photos and videos of the accused.

The petition, which made the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and social media platforms respondents in the matter, also sought a formal, transparent and structured mechanism for prompt removal of such content in case of an objection.

A reference was also made to a matter in Rajasthan High Court in January wherein the judges ordered a takedown of social media content related to an accused under arrest.

Following this case, the state police issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) curbing the practice of uploading or sharing of photos and videos of arrested persons on social media or with mediapersons.

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Crime

Two held with stolen foreign liquor worth Rs 27,000 in Pune

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Pune, Aug 18: Two men were apprehended after police found stolen liquor from a shop in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar on Tuesday, officials said.

Six bottles of foreign liquor, valued at Rs 27,200, were recovered from the accused.

According to the officials, the youths were apprehended by a team from Yerwada police station near the GST office in Kalyani Nagar.

The investigators said that the accused have been identified as Rohan Ram Kamble (28) and Amit Mahadev Sitapure (27).

They also added that a case has been registered against both the accused under Sections 303(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

While patrolling the area on Tuesday, police personnel Sandeep Jaybhay received information that two suspicious-looking youths were standing near the GST office and might be in possession of stolen goods, the officials said.

Acting on this information, the police team arrived at the spot and intercepted the two youths. They failed to provide satisfactory answers during questioning. Upon searching the bag they were carrying, the police found six bottles of foreign liquor, the officials added.

The police took both individuals to the Yerwada police station for questioning, during which, according to the officials, the accused admitted that the liquor bottles had been stolen from the ‘Tonic Outlet’ shop in Kalyani Nagar.

According to the police, the recovered liquor is linked to a theft case registered at the Yerwada police station.

The officials said that Sub-Inspector Kishor Berad is conducting investigations into the matter to ascertain the nexus and see if the accused duo has been involved in similar incidents in the past.

Necessary legal proceedings have been initiated in connection with the case, the investigators said.

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