In a heinous incident, a school principal has been held accused of sexually assaulting over 90 girls in a school in Madurai. The Madurai Bench of the Madras HC sentenced M Arokiasamy to 55 years in prison for sexually assaulting the students. The 62-year-old was convicted in the sensational Pothumbu case on Tuesday.
He has been convicted in six cases and a total of 120 years of imprisonment, but he has been allowed to serve the sentence concurrently. The court also levied a fine of Rs 3.40 lakh on him, which will be paid as compensation to the victims. After the judgement was announced, the accused was being taken to the prison when a mob charged at him. Angry parents and guardians hurled eggs and slippers at Arokiasamy for his crime. Three other teachers of the school have also been acquitted in the case.
Arokiasamy has been awarded 25 years imprisonment under The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act; 30 years under 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC and another five years under section 3 (1) (XII) SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and he was directed to undergo the imprisonments consequently.
He has also been awarded 60 years imprisonment under Tamil Nadu Women Harassment Act and five years under 32 (VII) of IPC. A case against him was also registered in 2011 after the intervention of All India Democratic Women Association.
