The Calcutta High Court’s Circuit Bench at Port Blair has quashed orders of the Disciplinary Authority, Appellate Authority and Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which dismissed a school teacher from service. The case dates back to 2009, when a student, allegedly caught cheating in an exam was restrained by the teacher with a hand on her shoulder, had accused that the action had outraged her modesty.
This had created unrest among the students. In the Calcutta High Court, the teacher had submitted that a criminal case under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been instituted against him. But the matter had ended in acquittal due to a compromise made with the victim, who subsequently dropped the charges and admitted to having lied, according to a report by LiveLaw.in.
The petitioner further submitted that in this light, and the fact that the teacher had no sexual intent, the previous statements of the victims could not be relied upon. During the hearing, the high court found that the disciplinary authority did not afford any weightage to the teacher's acquittal as at that time, the victim was a minor and not competent to enter into a compromise with the teacher.
However, after perusal of the case, a division bench of Justices Suvra Ghosh and Subhendu Samanta held that the penalty imposed upon the petitioner was utterly disproportionate and had no legal sanction. "Restraining her from copying in the examination cannot be said to have any sexual flavour. The victim has not for once indicated that the said touch was with sexual intent or inappropriate," the bench said, as per LiveLaw.in.
