Scottish suspends PE instructor after molest charge by 2nd-yr student
Times of India | 5 December 2024
123 Kolkata: A Scottish Church College physical education instructor was suspended on Thursday after molestation charge from a second-year student. The instructor, Samir Roy, has allegedly been texting abusive messages to the second-year student since her admission in 2023.
The girl said, "He used to send me sexually abusive chats, and many times I told him not to send them. Every time after sending messages, he deleted them and forced me to delete them from my side also, and threatened me not to share with anyone. Before puja vacation, I told the college authorities but did not make a formal complaint as I didn't have evidence. I have physical education as a subject, but I stopped only because of him. However, he did not stop sending me text messages, and I submitted a complaint to the college with the screenshots of some messages."
After receiving a written complaint from the student, the college on Thursday conducted an emergency meeting where it was decided to suspend him immediately. After the meeting, college principal Madhumanjari Mandal issued a press statement saying, "With regard to the complaint received from a student of the college against a faculty member, the authority suspended the concerned teacher from service in the college with immediate effect till the governing body takes further decision."
TOI called Roy to get a reaction, but he said, "I don't know what the college has decided," and immediately disconnected the call. The next call went on ringing, but he did not pick up.
A section of students emphasized that this wasn't the first instance that he (the instructor) harassed female students. During his tenure, he habitually tried to pressurize female students to satisfy his ‘perverted needs', promising to help them in the future, and even threatening to damage their careers if they resisted.
After the information surfaced, students staged a protest on the college premises. One student said, "We wanted proper action by the authority to be taken against him in this case and questioned why they took action late when the student informed the college a few months ago. Moreover, there were a number of complaints against this teacher, but the authority ignored them every time. We want strong action so that no such case happens again."
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