The Supreme Court has decided today that the case of sexual harassment cannot be dismissed as there has been an ‘agreement’ between the complainant and the accused. The court set aside the Rajasthan High Court order, which had granted relief to a teacher accused of sexually harassing his minor student, and ordered his trial.
This case is related to a case of 2022 in Gangapur city of Rajasthan. A minor Dalit girl has filed a police complaint against a government school teacher for sexual abuse. A case was filed accordingly. POCSO Act and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also invoked in the case. The statement of the minor was also taken.
However, the accused teacher Bimal Kumar Gupta took a statement from the girl’s family on stamp paper. The statement said that they have filed a police complaint due to a misunderstanding and now do not want any action against the teacher. The police accepted it and registered a complaint. But the lower court rejected this statement. The accused then approached the High Court, which accepted this and ordered quashing of the FIR. Social worker Ramjeelal Bairwa challenged this decision of the High Court in the Supreme Court. A bench of Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar reversed the High Court’s order and cleared the decks for prosecution of the guilty teacher.