Quickly
Socially
Trending
Crypto
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) A Delhi court has convicted a school teacher for sexually harassing and criminally intimidating five minor girls in 2015, besides committing aggravated sexual assault and outraging the modesty of one of the victims.
The court observed that if a man commented on a particular body part of a female in some absurd and disgusting manner, it showed his "sexual intention".
Additional Sessions Judge Amit Sahrawat was hearing a case against a school's lab assistant, also working as an absentee teacher, who was charged under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the penal provisions for committing sexual assault.
Special public prosecutor Sandeep Kaur said the five victims jointly registered an FIR against the accused, who was an employee of the directorate of education.
In an order dated November 30, the court said, "It is established principle of law that in sexual offences against women, even the sole testimony of the victim could be sufficient to prove the case of the prosecution, but in the present matter, it is not the case of any one victim, rather there are five victims who have deposed against the accused."
The court said the testimonies of all victims were reliable and corroborated each other regarding the allegations levelled against the accused.
"There are certain facts which victims depose in one version but not in another, but it cannot be taken as their inconsistency because the victims in this case are school-going children, and they are below the age of 12 years and therefore it cannot be expected from them that their statements shall remain completely same at each stage," the court said.
It also rejected the argument of the defence counsel that the girls' registered a "false case" as they were angry with the accused after noting that the victims' earlier gave a complaint to the school principal.
The court said that video clips were recovered from the accused's mobile phone, which proved that he shot the clips of girls when they were playing or dancing in the school.
Noting the accused's overall conduct where he commented on the body parts of a victim, touched the shoulder and waist of another girl, and commented about lactating mothers and infants to all five victims, the court said the accused "did all these with a sexual intention".
"Whenever a person comments upon a particular body part of a female in some absurd and disgusting manner, and that too such a body part which is related to the modesty of a woman, it shows the sexual intention of that male.
"The chest and other private parts of a female are always related to the modesty of a woman and they cannot be commented on without any reasonable explanation or logic," the court noted.
It also said that no person of ordinary prudence would ever comment or behave with a female child in such a manner, without any sexual intention.
"The said comments were made by the accused to all the victims and thus he is held liable for the offences under Section 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 12 (sexual harassment of a minor) of POCSO Act qua all the five victims," the court said.
It also convicted the accused under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC and Section 10 (aggravated sexual assault) for his act against one of the victims.
"The accused threatened the victims that if they disclosed the talks of the accused to anyone, he would get them involved in a cheating case," the court said while convicting the accused for criminal intimidation.
The arguments on sentencing will be heard at a later date.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Google Trends
