Veteran BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday morning said that Chennai's PSBB Senior Secondary School, which is in the news for sexual harassment complaints against one of its teachers, is being blamed for what a single person did and that he is ready to fight their fight if the Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin does not step in.
Swamy, who is known for his unconventional remarks and opinions, took to Twitter early on Wednesday. "In a respected Padma Seshadri Bal Bhavan School in Chennai, of 10,000 students in three branches — a gyani and tyagi [Brahmin] managed school. DMK/DK is harassing them because one teacher misbehaved with a girl student. I will take up PSBB's defence if TN CM does not stop the goons," he wrote.
Swamy soon clarified that he sees every teacher — a gyani and a tyagi as he puts it — as a Brahmin irrespective of their caste attributed by society. "First decide who is a Brahmin. Only a Gyani and Tyagi can be. So Muthuramalinga Thevar is for me a Brahmin. School teachers, Pujaris etc are Brahmins. No one is born Brahmin per se. If some teacher misbehaves by an inquiry he should be disowned," Swamy further tweeted. He engaged with people commenting on the issue for quite a while on Twitter and explained his stand.
The past weekend saw a horrific story unfold in Chennai. G Rajagopalan, a Class 12 Commerce and Accountancy teacher from the KK Nagar Branch of the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan was accused of specially harassing his students.
Kripali M, an alumni of the school collated and shared screenshots of many students sharing their ordeals of being allegedly harassed by the teacher. One of the screenshots shows a picture of him topless Wearing only a towel during an online class.
Rajagopalan was arrested under POCSO Act Sections 11 and Section 12, under IPC Act 354 (a) and 509, IT Act section 67 and 67(a).
While the teacher was suspended by the school and later arrested earlier today, the incident has brought several such incidents to light on social media.
Tamil Nadu's Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh said that they wanted to start a portal for sexual harassment claims but were mulling over a foolproof system to ensure good teachers didn't get railroaded by the odd disenchanted student. He also said that they would immediately order all schools to get their acts in order - by ensuring that Anti-Sexual Harassment Committes are in place. The police officer investigating this case has also announced a toll-free number where students can get in touch to report sexual harassment and their anonymity will be ensured.
