'Victim's Mental State Remaining Normal Casts Doubt On Veracity Of Allegations': P&H High Court Suspends Teacher's Sentence In POCSO Case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has suspended the sentence of a school teacher convicted for sexual harassment under Section 354-A IPC and Sections 10 & 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, during the pendency of his appeal.

Justice Namit Kumar noted, "any child who would have experienced such an incident must have been mentally traumatised for a while, whereas, on 03.11.2022 the very next day of the alleged incident, the victim had attended the P.T.M. along with her parents and she also clicked some photographs in the school and uploaded the same on social media through her Instagram account with the caption "School Mein Maje"."

The Court remarked, such behaviour cannot reasonably be anticipated from a minor, who was subjected to sexual molestation by her teacher at school merely a day prior.

Justice Kumar highlighted the conduct and demeanour of the prosecutrix subsequent to the alleged incident does not inspire confidence in the prosecution version and the behaviour of the prosecutrix on 03.11.2022, exhibits no sign of fear, trauma and emotional distress that would ordinarily be expected from a victim of such a grave offence.

"The mental state of the victim remained absolutely normal even after the alleged occurrence, which casts a serious doubt on the veracity of her allegations and strongly indicates that the incident, as narrated by the prosecutrix did not take place in the manner alleged," the bench added.

According to the prosecution, the 12-year-old victim, a student of Class VII, had alleged that Dinesh Kumar — her teacher — called her to meet him at school, made obscene remarks, and touched her inappropriately. She reportedly narrated the incident to her father after returning home, leading to the registration of the FIR.

The applicant had been convicted  in the case and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for up to five years along with fines under various provisions.

Seeking suspension of sentence, senior counsel for the appellant contended that he was falsely implicated due to a personal grudge. It was argued that the applicant had earlier reprimanded the victim for bringing a mobile phone to school and making video reels, which allegedly led to animosity and false allegations.

 After hearing both sides, the Court observed that there were arguable points in the appeal, the hearing of which was unlikely in the near future, and that the appellant had already spent over a year in custody.

Noting that the case lacked medical or scientific corroboration and without commenting on merits, the Court held that it was appropriate to suspend the sentence pending appeal.

"The instant case is not supported by any medical or scientific evidence in as much as the medical examination of the victim was conducted on 03.11.2022, whereas the FIR had been registered on 02.11.2022 i.e. prior to the medical examination. Moreover, the medical record reflects that the victim had changed her clothes prior to the said examination conducted on 03.11.2022, which fact may have a bearing on the evidentiary value of the medical findings," it added.

Consequently, the plea was allowed.

Mr. S.S. Behl, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Jagpreet Singh, Advocate,

Ms. Raageshwari Sharma, Advocate, Mr. Jugraj Singh, Advocate and

Mr. Himanshu Rajput, Advocate for the applicant/appellant.

Mr. Shubham Mangla, A.P.P., U.T., Chandigarh.

Title: XXXXX VS STATE OF U.T. CHANDIGARH [CRM-48642-2024 in CRA-S-3761-2024]

This order falls under the restricted category as per the High Court rules and, therefore, cannot be uploaded.

 order