Mumbai school teacher gets 5-year jail term for sexually assaulting minor girls
Mumbai (PTI): A special court in Mumbai has sentenced a 28-year-old school teacher here to five years' rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting minor girl students.
A teacher is expected to act as a protector and such heinous acts by the accused have left a lifelong "psychological and emotional impact" on the victims, special judge Seema Jadhav said in the order on Tuesday.
The accused, who worked as a teacher at a school in suburban Govandi, was held guilty under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act by the court.
He was accused of sexually assaulting three students, aged below 12, of his class.
In the detailed order, available on Wednesday, the court said the accused is not a layman but a teacher, "the only career that influences other professions."
"Hence, the teacher is expected to act as a protector. Such heinous acts by the accused have cast a lifelong psychological and emotional impact on the victims," the judge said.
The court also noted the teacher has no criminal antecedents.
Considering the facts in the present case, the minimum punishment under relevant provisions of the POCSO Act "would meet the ends of justice", the court said, while sentencing him to five years in jail.
The mother of one of the victims complained to the police in September 2019, following which a case was registered against the teacher.
As per the complaint, the three victims were students of standard fifth and the accused was their class teacher.
The victims have accused him of "frequently touching them inappropriately".
The court held that there is no reason to disbelieve the testimony of the victims, which is corroborated by other witnesses as well.
The accused has not brought on record any probable evidence to corroborate his defense of false implication at the instance of another teacher, it said.
"Upon evaluating the testimony of victims and other witnesses, the prosecution has been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused has committed non-penetrative sexual assault, as defined in section 7 of the POCSO Act, upon the victims below 12 years repeatedly," the court said.
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Put petty politics aside; it's not about one party, but India: Rahul on TMC's loss in polls
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed the BJP's victory in Bengal and Assam assembly polls a "theft" of the mandate, and a big step forward in the saffron party's mission to "destroy" Indian democracy.
Gandhi also came out in support of the TMC, which has been trounced by the BJP in the polls, and urged those gloating over the loss of Mamata Banerjee's party to put petty politics aside.
"Some in the Congress, and others, are gloating about TMC's loss.They need to understand this clearly - the theft of Assam and Bengal's mandate is a big step forward by the BJP in its mission to destroy Indian democracy," Gandhi said in a post on X.
"Put petty politics aside. This is not about one party or another. This is about India," he said in his post.
The BJP ousted Trinamool Congress from power in Bengal and captured power for the third time in a row in Assam in results of assembly polls declared on Monday.
