Kalaburagi, Jan 20 (IANS): Karnataka Police have arrested a youth under the POCSO Act for impregnating his minor cousin, a class 10 student, who delivered a baby boy last month.

Taking serious note of the development, the local education department has suspended the principal and warden of a government residential school in Kalaburgai district for negligence.

According to the police, the victim, who was a student of the residential school, gave birth on December 28, 2023.

The victim, along with her newborn child, are currently housed at the Amulya Shishu Griha in Kalaburagi.

The police said that the girl had complained to the school authorites of stomach ache after which she was sent home to her parents.

When the pain worsened, the parents took the girl to a hospital in the neighbouring Solapur district in Maharashtra.

After a scan, the doctors discovered that she was pregnant.

Later, it was revealed that the girl's cousin brother had engaged in physical intimacy with her.

The principal and warden have been suspended for their negligence as they failed to be vigilant.

The Nimbarga police are currently investigating the matter.