Meghalaya high court rejects teacher’s plea to suspend molestation conviction

Shillong: The Meghalaya high court has rejected an appeal from a teacher for suspension of his sentence in a molestation case.

The Special Judge (POCSO) of West Garo Hills in Tura convicted the teacher for molesting a minor girl.

The court sentenced the teacher to 18 months of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 and another six months in prison in default of payment.

The appeal was filed by the teacher against the conviction order of October 11, 2022.
Materials available on record say the appellant was a teacher in a school where the victim studied.
The victim, then a 12-year-old Class VII student, used to go for private tuition to the teacher.

On May 21, 2016, the father of the survivor lodged an FIR alleging that on May 16, the teacher dropped his daughter back home after the completion of tuition and molested her after finding no one around.

The grandmother of the victim, who was in the adjacent room, thought something was wrong and secretly saw the teacher molesting the minor girl. The appellant left the place before she could raise an alarm.

Based on an FIR, the Tura Women police registered a case and the matter was investigated.

Upon completion of the investigation, a charge sheet was filed against the teacher on November 29, 2016. Thereafter, charges under relevant sections of the POCSO Act were framed against the appellant by the trial court on March 10, 2017, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

After hearing the arguments, the high court on Thursday upheld the trial court’s judgment against the appellant.

“The bail bonds of the appellant, if any, are hereby cancelled. The appellant is directed to surrender before the trial court and be taken into custody forthwith to serve the sentence,” the high court said.