In a bizarre incident of exploitation through blackmailing in Meerut, as many as 52 teachers of a private school have collectively lodged a complaint with the local police allging that the school management was covertly filming them in the school’s washrooms and then using the videos and photographs to blackmail them into working without salary for several months.

Sources said that the teachers, in their complaint, stated that the secretary of the school’s management committee threatened them with their objectionable photographs and videos whenever they asked for the payment of their pending salaries. 

Based on the complaint, the police, on Wednesday, registered an FIR against the secretary and his son under sections 504 (intentional insult), 354 (a) (sexual harassment) and 354 (c) (voyeurism) of the Indian Penal Code.

Meanwhile, the secretary dismissed the allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him. 

“There is no CCTV inside the women’s toilet. But they have been installed in the gents’ toilets. This was done against the backdrop of recent cases of murder inside some schools,” the secretary told some media persons. 

The secretary, however, admitted that for the past few months, the school had failed to pay salaries to the teachers. He attributed this failure to the ongoing pandemic situation.

A case has been registered and investigation is underway, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Sadar Bazaar police station, Vijay Gupta said, adding that a team of officials from the forensic department has been roped in to provide assistance to the police in the investigation. 

He said that the entire Close Circuit Television footage would be examined and the statements of the staff and even students would be recorded before initiating any action. 

The financial record of the school will be also scrutinised to confirm whether the salaries were not paid due to money shortage or not. 

It may be mentioned that in 2017, the same school had ordered its students to get their hair cut like chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The students were also asked to not keep beards as the school was “not a madarasa where people offer namaz”.