POCSO Convict Teacher Gets Bail from Bombay High Court, Here’s What Happened

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): The Bombay High Court has granted bail to a 60-year-old tuition teacher, who was convicted by a POCSO court earlier this year for sexually assaulting a minor student. While granting bail, the court of Justice Sarang V. Kotwal raised serious questions about the fact that the victim was possibly coached into giving a statement. The court took special note of the fact that during the cross-examination, the girl herself admitted that her police constable mother had taught her how to answer questions in the trial court.

The incident dates back to March 15, 2017. The victim was a fourth-grade student at the time and used to go to the accused teacher for tuitions along with her elder sister. According to a complaint filed by the girl's mother on March 19, 2017, the teacher called the girl to his room and asked her to read a book and then touched her inappropriately. The complaint said the girl got scared and went to the next room where the teacher's wife was also taking classes.

On January 9, 2025 this year, a special POCSO court had sentenced the teacher to five years rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty under Section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The High Court considered these arguments

During the hearing, the teacher's lawyer Satyavrat Joshi argued that the victim had falsely implicated the teacher out of vengeance after being scolded for not attending class. He also stressed that the teacher's wife was present in the house at the time of the incident, which makes the possibility of such a crime negligible.

The High Court noted the contradictions in the arguments of the teacher's lawyer and the statement of the victim. The court said, "It is very difficult to believe that despite informing her mother about such a serious incident, the girl went to the tuition class again the very next day i.e. on March 16." Looking at the evasive answers of the victim, the court said that this strengthens the argument that the alleged incident cannot be true.

The prosecution opposed the bail

The prosecution strongly opposed the bail, saying that a 10-year-old girl cannot make such serious allegations against her teacher. However, the court gave preference to the arguments of the defence and the facts of the case.

The court clarified that the final decision on all these questions will be taken during the hearing of the appeal. At present, the court has ordered the release of the convicted teacher on bail on a bond of Rs 25,000.