look news india
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently upheld the conviction of a primary school teacher for sexually abusing three minor girls in the classroom. The court rejected the defence's argument that he was wrongly provoked to take revenge for enmity. The court said that the evidence of the victim girls is credible.
According to the government's allegation, Jadhav, while teaching in a primary school, sexually assaulted three girls studying in class 2. The incident took place in the classroom where the girls were made to lie on the table and floor and then their private parts and other places were touched inappropriately.
A case was registered at the Ratnagiri Rural Police Station on December 24, 2021. Jadhav was then arrested and a chargesheet was filed. During the hearing, the mother of one of the victims narrated the incident as narrated by her daughter and two other victim women. She said that on December 24, 2021, her daughter told that her teacher had touched her inappropriately, but initially she did not believe it and believed that she was warned for misbehavior. The next day the girl refused to go to school and the teacher allegedly took off her frock and touched her inappropriately. She said that he has done the same with two other victims as well.
Three victims gave details of the abuse and two other boys from the same school also testified that Jadhav would send them out of the classroom and call girls inside.
On 14 February 2023, the Additional Sessions Judge of Ratnagiri convicted Jadhav under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act. He was sentenced to a total of five years of simple imprisonment and fined Rs. 9000. The fine amount was directed to be given to the victim as compensation.
The accused appealed against the sentence. His defence said that the FIR was lodged 15 days after the incident which shows that the complaint was false due to enmity as the complainant was the president of the school management committee. His statement that the girls speak in a learned language was questioned.
The prosecution emphasised on the statements of child witnesses and lack of evidence to support the claim of false accusation. The accused did not deny being present at the school on the day of the incident.
The court also said that the evidence of the girls was consistent with the statements of other witnesses, including two boys. In the cross-examination, the argument that the involvement was shown due to management dispute was also not supported, the court dismissed the appeal and said that there was no need to interfere with the lower court order.
