Bhubaneswar: A POCSO court in Odisha’s Bolangir district today sentenced the headmaster of an upper primary school to 20 years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting several girl students in 2022.

Convict Bishwanath Buddhia was acting as the headmaster of Mursingh Upper Primary School under Deogaon police limits in Bolangir district when the allegations of sexual assault were made against him.

As per the case records, Buddhia had sexually assaulted at least five girls of his school last year. One of the victims had informed the incident to her parents on August 22, 2022.

The victim’s family had raised the issue with the school managing committee on August 24, 2022. Seeking stern action against the accused headmaster, hundreds of villagers had staged a demonstration in front of the school the next day.

Taking the incident seriously, the Bolangir District Education Officer (DEO) had suspended the accused headmaster. Subsequently, the police had arrested the accused and produced him in a local court after registering a case in this regard.