Mumbai Teacher Gave Her Student Anti-Anxiety Meds, Sexually Assaulted Him

A 40-year-old female teacher of a prominent Mumbai school has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old male student on multiple occasions in the past one year, police said.

The woman, who is married and also has children, has been charged under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Indian Penal Code. There was no immediate comment from the school on the case at the time of filing this report.

According to the police, the accused woman is an English teacher and taught the student when he was in Class XI. She told police that she got attracted to the teenager during various meetings to set up a dance group for the annual school function in December 2023. She also made sexual gestures to the student in January 2024. 

As the survivor was initially reluctant and began avoiding her, the teacher approached one of her female friends - who is not from the school - for help, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. The accused's friend, who has also been charged, reached out to the minor and reportedly told him that relationships between older women and teenage boys have "become quite common". 

The accused's friend also told the student that he and the teacher were made for each other, the officer said. The student then decided to meet the teacher. 

Subsequently, the teacher picked up the boy in a Sedan and took him to a secluded place.  "She forcefully undressed him and sexually assaulted him. When the student started feeling anxious over the next few days, she gave him some anti-anxiety tablets," the officer said.

The vehicle has been seized for probe. 

A second officer said the teacher would then get the student drunk before taking him to five-star hotels in South Mumbai and near the airport, where she coerced him into having sexual relations. 

Police said the incident came to light when the student's family noticed a change in behaviour and confronted him. As the student narrated his plight, the family decided to keep it undercover on the grounds that he would soon graduate from school, and hoped that the teacher would ultimately stop bothering him.

The situation, however, turned worse when the student left school after clearing his Class 12 board examinations earlier this year but was again contacted by the teacher.

"The teacher contacted the student through one of her domestic staff and asked him to meet her. The teen's family then decided to approach us and register a case," the second officer said. 

Police said a case has been registered under sections 4 (penetrative sexual assault), 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 17 (abolition of offences) of the POCSO Act, besides provisions of the IPC and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.