'Parents Would Think Twice About Sending Their Girl Child To School': Karnataka High Court Refuses Bail To Teacher Accused Of Sexual Harassment

The Karnataka High Court recently refused bail to a Government primary school teacher charged for allegedly sexually harassing the minor girl students studying in IV to VI standard.

A single judge bench of Justice Umesh M Adiga while rejecting the petition filed by C Manjunath observed,

“Guru or teacher are considered as God in this Country and respected like a God. However, because of the alleged behaviour of the petitioner, even the parents think twice about sending their girl child to the school. It may spoil the name, fame and future of the said girl students. It is not a crime against the individual but crime against a society.”

It added, “Due to the alleged threat of the petitioner to spoil the career of the students, so also they were said to be threatened, the students to file a complaint against him and that cannot be a ground for holding that there is a delay in lodging a complaint and on that ground he is not entitled for bail.”

The petitioner had been working as an Assistant Teacher in the Government Primary School, Boragunte village for about 6 to 7 years prior to the incident. In March, some villagers informed the Block Officer about the alleged illegal acts of the accused following which the officers visited the school where some girl students disclosed that accused used to touch their private parts and talk to them in an obscene manner. The students also alleged that the accused asked them to touch his private parts used to remove their dress.

Accordingly, the FIR was registered for offences punishable under Sections 8 & 12 of POCSO Act. Petitioner's application for bail was rejected by the special court following which, present plea was moved.

The accused contended that has been falsely implicated in the case by the villagers, for objecting to a petty shop of a villager in the school premises.

The prosecution opposed the plea saying Petitioner has committed a heinous offence against several girl children, threatening their future education. Moreover, it was argued that delay in disclosure of offence could not be seen adversely as the students were at the accused's mercy who threatened them of dire consequences.

It was also pointed that Petitioner failed to produce any material to show that a person illegally kept a petty shop in the school premises.

The bench on going through the record noted that the minor girls were aged between 8 to 11 years and they had consistently stated before the Police as well as the Magistrate that the accused was sexually harassing them.

“These facts prima facie show involvement of the petitioner in the alleged offences. There was no reason for the said minor girls to give false statements against the petitioner, only because there was an alleged dispute between petitioner as well as one of the petty shop owners, who is said to have kept a petty shop in the school premises,” the Court observed.

Looking at the facts and circumstances, the Court refused bail.

Case Title: C Manjunath And State of Karnataka & ANR

Case No: CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 3560 OF 2023

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Kar) 185

Date of Order: 11-05-2023

Appearance: Advocate A N Radha Krishna for petitioner.

HCGP Mahesh Shetty for Respondents.

Click Here To Read/Download Order