In a distressing development, the Mumbai High Court slapped a teacher with 1-year imprisonment for showing porn to his 5-yo-student. The incident can be added to the slew of incidents where a protector who’s responsible for helping a child for his/her future ends up ruining their past. The 30-year-old teacher was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Details
Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse
Reports of policemen, teachers, and at times, even parents or family member sexually offending a child are more common than one would imagine. According to NCRB data, 109 children were sexually abused each day back in 2018 and the number was a sharp 22% more than 2017. While 32,608 cases were reported across India under the POCSO act in 2017, 39,827 were reported in 2018.
Although that is the latest data, if the trend has continued in the same pace, in 2021, the number would be drastically more and significantly worrying.
The Facts of the Matter
In the same matter, a Mumbai special court which passes ruling on POCSO Act cases found a 30-year-old teacher for showing obscene pictures to a minor and masturbating. What makes the act even more heinous, is the fact that the survivor was just 5 years old when the incident was reported (August 30, 2016).
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Teacher Showed Obscene Photos to 5-year-old
According to an India Today report, the 5-year-old survivor was sent to learn Arabic by her parents in the neighboring mosque. When she came back, her parent inquired what she learnt and to this, the little girl told that the instructor first showed her obscene pictures and later cleaned his private parts.
On hearing that their daughter went through such a trauma, the parents registered a case at the Chembur police station the very next day. The accused was arrested and the phone where the obscene content was shown, was seized.
Accused Pleads Not Guilty, This is what Defence Argued
After the charge sheets were filed in the court, the accused claimed that he was not guilty. The accused’s defence lawyer in the court argued that the survivor’s family was trying to implicate the accused as they had failed to pay him fees for the instruction and also because he didn’t promote the survivor to the next class as per their wish.
Public prosecutor represented the survivor and claimed that the accused’s phone had the obscene pictures and further added, “The accused has not made out any case to show why he was implicated. The family of the victim will never lodge a false report just to avoid fees.”
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Defence 2nd Argument
The accused’s defence also argued in the court that the incident took place in the mosque where people often come to offer namaz. However, Special judge Bharti Kale claimed that perpetrators who want to commit such acts often make sure that the incident is not taken place in public view. Moreover, she also noted that there was no evidence to back the fact that the survivor had not paid the fees.
The Judge’s Final Ruling
“If the fees were not paid, then people of the mosque would not have taken the accused to the police station and, in fact, they would have insisted to the mother for payment of the fees. Therefore, there is nothing on record to show that there was any dispute about the fees,” Special Judge Bharti noted.
Further, the court also observed how there’s no explanation to the connection of the obscene pictures in the phone of the accused and the survivor’s knowledge on the same.
Interestingly enough, Judge Kale claimed that such acts go on ot affect the education of girl children in general and thus, leniency can’t be shown. The Bombay High Court sentenced the man a 1-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 10,000.
