Balasore, March 27: The district education authorities have suspended two teachers, including the headmaster of a government-run primary school in Nilgiri block, in an alleged sexual harassment case.

Headmaster Sunaram Singh had to face punishment for not taking action against the accused, Jagdish Kumar Singh, following a complaint by a 20-year-old teacher.

District education officer H.K. Kandi said the teachers were suspended after the block education officer conducted a probe.

The complainant, a sikshya sahayak at a school in Jambani, had accused her colleague Jagdish Singh of making sexual advances towards her. The 40-year-old accused, who is married, also had proposed to marry her.

Though the woman turned down his proposal, the accused kept sending her obscene text and voice messages and photographs.

The woman teacher had approached the headmaster accusing Jagdish of sexually and mentally harassing her.

Sunaram, however, did not take any action against the accused.

Block education officer Malati Tudu said: "A probe was conducted as soon as we got to know about the complaint. The woman showed the text messages, pictures and the voice clips she had received from Jagdish. There was truth in her allegation and the headmaster had not taken any action. So, the two have been suspended."

"The woman has been transferred to Mayurbhanj district," she said. She is a native of Karanjia in Mayurbhanj district and had got her first posting in Nilgiri in September last year.