|
BANGALORE: “This man, the so-called principal of our school should be paraded naked in our area,” grieved 15-year-old Deepa (name changed), one of the 18 girls who were allegedly molested by Father Mathew (40), the principal of St Claret High School in Jalahalli. “I am God, so don’t hesitate to kiss me,” he used to tell his victims.
Mathew, who has been charged under Section 354 of the IPC, is absconding.
On for 10 months
Mathew’s harassment began about 10 months ago when he asked a few girls “permission” to hug, kiss and marry them “in his next life”. Explaining this, Swathi (name changed) said, “He used to ask me if he can hold me, hug me, kiss me and even touch my private parts. When I would refuse, he would first try to convince me by saying, I am the prettiest of all the girls he has seen and would have married me if Christianity allowed him.”
Got worse
According to the girls, the harassment turned worse at their trip to Kulu Manali, two months ago. He molested the girls in the train too. “He would ask the boys to go to the other compartment and then if we were sleeping, he would come near us and touch our breasts and ask how it felt? His behaviour got worse during the trip and so we decided to teach him a lesson.”
Felt Suicidal
On Sunday night, the victims opened up to each other at one of the girls’ residence. They spoke about how each of them were molested and also how Mathew had tortured them.
One of the girls, a Std X student, who was mentally tortured for not co-operating with him said, “I was so tired of facing all this that I told my friends who had come to my house to attend a function that we should all take sleeping tablets to show the world how bad our principal is. But my mother overheard it.”
Savitha, the mother of the victim, said, “Thankfully, I overheard my daughter and her friends talking about it. When I convinced them, they revealed what the principal had done. I was shocked. If he is not out then, I won’t send my daughter to the school.”
Later, she telephoned the other parents and informed them about the incident. The parents then lodged a complaint with the police. On Monday morning, nearly 400 parents and activists of Kannada Rakshana Vedike protested in front of the school, demanding his arrest.
Sex magazines
Initially, it was only about talking about sex and showing porn magazines in the name of conducting sex education seminars.
The principal and other teachers allegedly threatened to lower their marks and even told them that they would not be given permission to appear for their exams.
“We had not told our parents because Surekha mam, Subbareddy sir and even Father had threatened to complain to our parents about bad behaviour and punish us severely if we talked about any of this,” said another student.
|
bravenet.com
