Nongstoin cops to follow teacher trail to Bihar

SHILLONG: Nongstoin police will coordinate with their Bihar counterpart to arrest the absconding teacher of a government school who is accused of sexually assaulting his students.
The chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), Meena Kharkongor, said on Wednesday Nongstoin police informed her that they suspect that Vishwajit Jha, the former PGT Physics teacher at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya School, is from a place near the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border.
Kharkongor lodged an FIR last Friday after the school administration delayed filing a complaint against Jha, who was sacked after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced.
“I had a word with Nongstoin police and they told me that they will coordinate with Bihar police to trace the teacher,” she said.
The incidents of sexual harassment came to light after a group of students mustered courage and reported the matter to one of the executive magistrates during routine inspection on March 23.
Based on an initial inquiry report, a committee was constituted that confirmed harassment.
According to Kharkongor, the West Khasi Hills administration should have filed an FIR after the committee found Jha guilty but “instead it asked the managing authority of the school to file the FIR (under the POCSO Act) and in the process, the accused went absconding”.