Kerala HC dismisses petition filed by teacher charged under POCSO Act

Stating that an acquittal in a criminal case does not automatically lead to the setting aside of a departmental inquiry and the consequential proceedings, the Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by a schoolteacher who was charged under the POCSO Act for alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old student in classroom.

The petitioner who was an Arabic teacher at a school in Malappuram and was placed under suspension following the registration of the FIR over a year ago, approached the court, seeking that a departmental inquiry report and the consequential proceedings following the incident be set aside. Among other reasons, he said that he had been acquitted in the criminal trial, after the survivor and her mother ‘turned hostile’.

‘Benefit of doubt’

Referring to the ancient education system in India where teachers were known as ‘rishis’, and the ‘rishi ashram’ was a veritable ‘gurukul’ where students were loved and cared for as members of the guru’s family, the Bench of Justice D.K. Singh said the petitioner was acquitted in the criminal case on the benefit of doubt. Even if a person is acquitted in a criminal trial, the same would not necessarily lead to discharge in a domestic inquiry. Being her teacher, the petitioner had a fiduciary relationship with the survivor. The crime is grossly unbecoming of a schooteacher.

The petitioner teacher was accused of sexually assaulting the student since January 2023 while she was reading standing near the petitioner in the classroom. The Wandoor police filed an FIR in 2024, under provisions of the POCSO Act and the IPC after being alerted by the headmaster. The child had told her mother about the assault and she informed the headmaster.