Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has refused to grant pre-arrest bail to a man who was booked under the provisions of POCSO for sexually harassing students of the school where he was a teacher.
“Such sexual abuse impacts their (the children's) studies and has negative social and psychological effect. Hence, such instances cannot be brushed aside as a routine or less-serious offence,” Justice Anuja Prabhudessai observed while recently rejecting the pre-arrest bail plea of the teacher at a Solapur school.
Judge: Such acts dent the revered teacher-student relationship
A teacher plays an important role in every student’s life and such acts dent the revered teacher-student relationship, the judge noted.
“Suffice it to say, teachers play an important and integral role in every student’s life not only in guiding them to achieve their academic goals and aspirations but also to develop knowledge and skills and to instil sound moral values,” Justice Prabhudessai said.
“The revered teacher-student relationship gets dented when the teachers filled with lust and contemptible desires sexually exploit and abuse students,” Justice Prabhudessai noted.
The court also took note of the fact that other girl students had made similar complaints against the teacher.
A Class IX student had in a complaint alleged that on February 6, when she was appearing for Marathi examination, the teacher, who was on duty in the class as a supervisor, stood near her, caught hold of her hand and started looking at her watch and asked about the time. Once again, he came near the victim and again caught hold of her hand. When she questioned his behaviour, he threatened to reduce her marks.
Touched inappropriately
The student alleged that while she was answering the paper, the teacher repeatedly sat on her bench and touched her inappropriately. After the examination, while she was leaving the class, the teacher deliberately threw down the answer papers and made her pick them up and touched her inappropriately while she was doing so.
The student alleged that the teacher would ogle at her when she would go towards her home and would even send her messages on a messenger app.
Her classmates had also told her about the teacher's behaviour, she said.
“The material on record prima facie indicates that the applicant, who is a teacher by profession, has been sexually harassing the students,” averred the court while rejecting his pre-arrest bail plea.
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