Bhandara, March 11 A 54-year-old teacher at a school run by the Zilla Parishad (ZP) has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing female students in Classes 3 and 4 in Bhandara district of Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday.
According to police, the incidents of sexual abuse took place between July 2025 and March 7, 2026, at the government-run school in the Pauni taluka of the district.
They said the accused teacher, who was arrested on March 10, would inappropriately touch the female students in Classes 3 and 4, misbehave with them, and also show them obscene videos on his mobile phone.
On March 9, one of the victims informed the school cook about the teacher's misbehavior. Subsequently, the cook contacted the students' parents, who then filed a police complaint against the teacher. Later, four more students came forward and spoke about the teacher's misdeeds.
Pauni police station in-charge Nilesh Brahmane said the accused was arrested the next day and booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
On Wednesday, the teacher was produced in a local court, which remanded him to police custody for three days.
Zilla Parishad schools are state-run institutes managed by a rural local government body (ZP).
Meanwhile, the Bhandara ZP Chief Executive Officer has issued orders suspending the teacher and constituting a committee to investigate the allegations against him.