A 39-year-old para teacher of a private tuition class was beaten up on Wednesday morning by local villagers of Cherwa village in Giridih district for sexually assaulting a minor girl (10) in the morning when she was alone in the classroom.

Sources said the complainant’s daughter was a Standard VII student. “The girl has been attending the teacher’s classes since she was in Standard V,” she said.

She said the girl used to attend the classes from 6am to 9.30am every day and then go to her house. Sources said that when the girl reached the classroom on Wednesday, she was alone.

“Taking advantage of the girl being alone, the teacher sat near the student and started touching her inappropriately. When the girl tried to resist him, the suspect threatened her and sexually assaulted her,” said a local.

Villagers said the shocked girl still attended the class. “She then went home and narrated her ordeal to her mother, who immediately came to the local mukhiya and lodged a complaint,” villagers said.

The local body members swung into action and took the suspect in custody and started his beating. “As the news of the of the teacher spread, one more girl student told her mother the sexual harassment she had faced from the teacher,” villagers said.

According to reports the para teacher Dashrath Vishwkarma was running tuition classes for long. Many students and their parents knew him. “We are now probing if the teacher had sexually assaulted any other students,” Later we will be organized village meeting for further his punishment, villagers said.