Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 – ss.7, 8 – Penal Code, 1860 – Sexual assault – Multiple allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the students against the respondent no.1, a computer teacher – One of the FIRs was settled by respondent no.1 – High Court quashed the remaining FIRs – Challenge to:
Held: High Court ought not to have ignored the fact that respondent No.1 was a teacher and the victims were his students – Preliminary statements recorded before the Police reveal that prima facie ingredients of offences under the POCSO Act, for the purpose of subjecting respondent No.1 to a trial, were made out – High Court wrongly construed that s.7 of the POCSO Act will not be attracted unless there is an act involving physical contact with sexual intent – s.7 defines ‘sexual assault’ to include situations where a person ‘with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person, or does any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration’ – The allegations that respondent No.1 would hold the hands of female students in the computer lab while using the mouse clearly falls within the ambit of ‘any other act with sexual intent which involves physical contact’ – In the context of a teacherstudent relationship, where the teacher is in a position of authority and trust, such physical contact, when accompanied by other inappropriate behavior including asking invasive questions about sanitary napkins and sending vulgar images, provides sufficient basis to infer sexual intent for the purpose of proceeding with trial – This was a fit case where respondent No.1 ought to have been subjected to trial – This is extremely important keeping in view the fact that respondent No.1 has successfully prevailed upon one of the victims, who allegedly “settled the dispute” and paved the way for respondent No.1 to get one of the cases quashed – Impugned order set aside – Directions issued to Trial Court to proceed with the trial. [Paras 4, 5, 7]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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