Teacher gets 20- yr jail in POCSO case

Ongole: The POCSO Court at Ongole has sentenced a computer teacher to 20 years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 in a case involving sexual harassment of a minor student.

The convicted individual, Bommu Pedda Veeraiah (33), from Eguvaramapuram village in Kalasapadu mandal of Kadapa district, was found guilty of sexually harassing a minor girl from Giddalur mandal who studied at the same school where he worked as a computer teacher.

According to the case details, Veeraiah had been harassing the girl since seventh grade. Before her tenth-grade examinations, Veeraiah’s inappropriate behaviour in the laboratory prompted the girl to inform her mother, who complained to the school principal. However, the harassment continued.

During Dussehra holidays in 2018, while the victim was visiting home from Tirupati, where she was pursuing Intermediate studies, Veeraiah threatened to post her nude photographs on social media and demanded money and gold.

When the victim brought the demanded items, he lured her to Kachiguda in Telangana state under the pretext of deleting the photos, where he sexually assaulted her at a lodge and later at a rented house. Following the family complaint, Giddalur police registered a case.

They conducted investigations under the supervision of then Markapur DSP G Nageswara Reddy and Darsi DSP K Prakash Rao, leading to the arrest of accused.

On Wednesday, POCSO Court Judge K Shailaja delivered the verdict after effective prosecution by Special Public Prosecutor Gottipatii Srinivasarao. The court also ordered Rs 2 lakh compensation for the victim through the District Legal Services Authority.

Prakasam district SP AR Damodar praised the investigating officers and emphasised that perpetrators of sexual crimes against children and women cannot escape the law.