A minor who had gone to Kanpur to prepare for her NEET medical entrance exam was allegedly raped and blackmailed for months by two well-known teachers from a popular coaching centre in the city. Police said one of the teachers was arrested a few months ago after CCTV footage of him allegedly sexually harassing another student was widely shared and this gave the survivor the courage to finally file a complaint.

Both teachers have been arrested. 

A police official said the student had gone to Kanpur to prepare for the exam in 2022 and enrolled in a coaching centre there. In January this year, her biology teacher, Sahil Siddiqui, 32, invited her to a party at his house which he said was meant for all students. When the girl reached his flat, however, she realised that she was alone. She alleged that Siddiqui got her drunk, raped her and filmed the act.

The survivor told the police that Siddiqui threatened to make the video public and kill her family and raped her on several other occasions as well. He held her hostage at his flat for some time and then coerced her to attend parties there. It was during one such party that she was raped by her 39-year-old chemistry teacher, Vikas Porwal. The survivor was a minor at the time. 

The student said she had gone home to meet her parents around Holi and Siddiqui had called her and asked her to come back, threatening to harm her family if she did not comply. 

A video of Siddiqui allegedly sexually harassing another student went viral recently and he was released on bail. An official said this made the student overcome her fear of him and file a police complaint on Thursday. 

A first information report (FIR) was registered on Friday and both Siddiqui and Porwal were arrested the same night. 

Assistant Commissioner of Police Abhishek Pandey said, “The student told us she was raped by the accused on separate occasions. A case has been registered and the two men have been arrested and are being questioned. The student was a minor at the time and has requested us not to share too many details.”

The two teachers were produced in court on Saturday.

(With inputs from Arun Agarwal)

If patriarchy stopped women from achieving what they want in India, how come Indira Gandhi made it as prime minister, asked Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

She met the students of CMS Business School here on Saturday and discussed various measures undertaken by the Centre to support innovation as well as the government schemes available for young people, including the 1 crore internships for the ‘unemployable youth’ in the age group of 21 to 24.

Replying to a question about women empowerment, Ms Sitharaman insisted that patriarchy is a concept invented by the Left.

“Don’t get carried away by fantastic jargon. If you stand up for yourself and speak logically, patriarchy will not stop you from achieving your dreams,” she advised the women in the audience.

However, she admitted that women are not facilitated adequately and that more facilitation is needed.

Answering a question about the prospects of innovators in India, the finance minister said the Narendra Modi government is creating an environment that is conducive to innovators.

“We do not just support innovation by bringing out policies,” she said, adding that the Indian government is doing its best to ensure that such innovations find markets too.

As an example, she cited the support mechanism that is available for MSMEs. According to her, they are given priority in government procurements.

Ms Sitharaman said 40 per cent of all government procurements is coming from MSMEs. “That is why we have more than 2 lakh startups today in India and more than 130 have become unicorns. The opportunity is immense but is not fully utilised,” she said.

It is the same with digital banking transformation that is happening in India, she added.

According to her, opportunities were created for the common people through Jan Dhan Yojana.

“India’s approach to spreading digital networks was funded by the government, while many other countries went through private players, resulting in some nominal charges somewhere. Because of this, even micro-level users also access digital banking without having to pay for it,” Ms Sitharaman said, and added that this will only grow in the future.

“Therefore, technology will have to be continuously updated so that we don’t become redundant.” She also explained the concept of the ‘Fund of Funds’ offered by the Small Industries Development Bank of India, which is enabled by the Central government by infusing Rs 10,000 crore to help small businesses and innovative ideas needing support.

“Private equity funds are also backing this because we have given them concessions,” she added.

As for the latest government scheme offering one crore internships to the unemployable, Ms Sitharaman urged the students present to help get the target audience on to the platform so that more youth can become skilled. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)