In a recent judgment, the Supreme Court (SC) of India held that an act of sexual harassment of a female student by any teacher is a grave offence since it has far-reaching consequences, which impact more than just the parties to the proceeding. Despite this, the bench said that care has to be taken while dealing with such matters as a teacher has earned a reputation upon rendering service over the years and an accusation like sexual harassment would remain as an indelible mark marring his entire future life. It added, “Care has, therefore, to be taken so that his right to live a life of dignity and personal liberty are not put to jeopardy on the basis of half-baked evidence.”
The bench; therefore, said that it is inclined to deem the present case unsuitable for securing a conviction under Section 11 read with Section 12 of the POCSO Act as there were various missing links to extend the benefit of the doubt to A-1 (appellant 1). The SC further said, “As regards A-2 (appellant 2), we do not consider that the prosecution was successful in proving that the conduct of A-2 was a case of criminal intimidation punishable under section 506 of I.P.C.; his conviction, too, is also liable to be set aside.” On March 11, 2024, the matter was heard by a three-judge bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta, Justice K.V. Viswanathan, and Justice Sandeep Mehta. The Supreme Court bench overturned the decision of the Tamil Nadu Trial Court and Madras High Court convicting the teacher under Section 12 of the POCSO Act with three years of imprisonment.