Visakhapatnam: A 45-year-old teacher of a government school was on Saturday beaten by the activists of a women`s organisation for allegedly sexually harassing a teen-age student, police said.
Activists of Progressive Organisation for Women (POW) beat up the accused Kolli Simhachalam, a secondary teacher, after trapping him and handed him over to police.
According to police, Simhachalam had allegedly been sexually harassing the 15-year-old girl, a student of class V, for past some weeks and had even molested her.
The girl, who hails from a very poor family, was continuing her studies on financial support of her guardian P Satyanarayana, a resident of Kothapalem in the city, as her father is an alcoholic and mother is ailing, they said.
Police said the girl had stopped attending classes for last few days and revealed the cause to her guardian when he asked her about not attending the school.
"After Satyanarayana intimated POW about the incident, the activists made the girl contact Simhachalam on phone and fixed her appointment with him at CMR Shopping mall in Gopalapatnam area", said police inspector, V Town (airport zone), B Tirumala Rao.
Police said the activists followed the teacher after he picked up the girl on his bike and confronted him when he tried to overpower her at his house.
"The activists beat him up before handing him over to police", Rao said.
Simhachalam is booked under Nirbhaya Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He was produced in a local court which remanded him in judicial custody, police said.
