Teacher held for rape gets relief'

Mumbai: The DNA report of a teacher, who was arrested last December by the Nerul police for his alleged rape of a 13-year-old student of a Navi Mumbai school, has allegedly come out negative. The test was carried out on Harishankar Shukla, the accused, to match his genetic similarity with the remains of the foetus that was preserved from the time the girl underwent an alleged abortion after the rape, police sources said.

Shukla was arrested on December 13, 2016. He was in police custody for 12 days, then sent to judicial custody. He is currently lodged at Thane’s central jail. The case was registered in September 2016 by the Nerul police under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Shukla had been arrested after the girl alleged that he had raped her twice by threatening her with dire consequences.

The matter came to light when the girl complained of stomachache and medical tests revealed that she was pregnant. The parents had alleged that the girl underwent an abortion after the teacher raped her. A police officer familiar with the case probe told The Asian Age, “The report from the forensic laboratory in Kalina has already been sent and it came out negative. Sample of the girl’s foetus was collected after her abortion and then it was sent to the DNA test.”

Prashant Khaire, DCP zone one of Navi Mumbai, said, “I need to confirm this, I still haven’t got the report.” The source said, “He was working as a teacher at a private school in Navi Mumbai for some years. He left his job in April last year. According to the schoolgirl, he raped her during the PT period in the girl’s toilet in the school in April 2016. She mentioned in the FIR that she was raped again when she got pregnant. But the teacher left the school in the month of April.” Now the police faces the task of finding the person who raped the girl.