A 23-year-old female tutor and her 13-year-old student, who had been missing since April 25 from Surat, were arrested near the Gujarat-Rajasthan border early Wednesday. The two were intercepted near Raigarh village after a multi-state search.
Police stated that the teacher engaged in a physical relationship with the minor multiple times during their disappearance, leading the police to invoke the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Authorities also ordered a DNA test after the teacher, now five months pregnant, claimed the boy is the father.
The duo travelled across several cities, including Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi and Vrindavan, before being caught. CCTV footage from their Surat apartment showed the teacher leaving with the boy, suggesting premeditation.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Bhagirath Gadhvi confirmed that the teacher sexually abused the minor at various locations during their escape. The Puna police filed a kidnapping case based on the boy’s parents' complaint. The teacher faces charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for abduction and the POCSO Act for sexual exploitation.
The teacher, a native of Mehsana, had been tutoring the boy for three years and was his sole private student in the past year. Both lived in the same Surat apartment building, with the teacher residing on the third floor and the boy’s family on the second.