OST Bureau

Malkangiri, Nov 1:

Hundreds of college and school students today held a protest rally here demanding immediate arrest of a President's award winning headmaster suspended for allegedly molesting a minor girl at his school while asking the government to provide security to the victim's family.

Student leaders of Malkangiri College and Malkangiri Women’s College, under the banner of Malkangiri Students Union, submitted a memorandum to the district authorities for lodging an FIR against the accused headmaster, his immediate arrest and adequate protection for the affected family.

The students demanded that there should not be a repeat of the Rayagada incident.

Pramod Kumar Swain, the headmaster of the English-medium school at BB Guda, was suspended by the district inspector of schools on Friday for allegedly molesting a class IV student.

Swain, who was awarded the President's Medal a few years ago for being an outstanding teacher, had called the standard IV student to his room and allegedly molested her.

Though Swain has been suspended, he has not been arrested as there has been no formal FIR against him.

The headmaster had allegedly offered money to the girl’s parents for keeping mum after the class IV student reported the matter to her parents.

However, the parents did not inform the police but took up the matter with the Malkangiri sub collector, Nruparaj Sahu.