Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnu- Gujarat HC Quotes Shloka While Denying Bail To Teacher Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Minor Student
The Gujarat High Court has denied bail to a teacher accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl student and also highlighted the impact such heinous crimes have on the child and the entire society and also expressed that the relation between 'Guru' and 'Disciples' should be viewed strictly.
The Court observed, "It is to be noted that children are precious human resources of our country; they are the country's future. The hope of tomorrow rests on them. But unfortunately, in our country, a girl child is in a very vulnerable position. There are different modes of her exploitation, including sexual assault and/or sexual abuse. The exploitation of children in such a manner is a crime against humanity and the society. Therefore, the children and more particularly the girl child deserve full protection and need greater care and protection whether in the urban or rural areas."
The bench of Justice Samir J. Dave observed that "It is a case where trust has been betrayed and social values are impaired. Therefore, the accused as such does not deserve any sympathy and/or any leniency" and referred to a very well-known shloka of Guru- Teacher-
"Guru Brahma Gurur Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwaraha Guru Saakshat Para Brahma Tasmai Sree Gurave Namaha."
In this case, an FIR was lodged by the mother of the minor alleging that her minor daughter was threatened with a knife and was sexually assaulted by one of her teachers. On complaining about the accused to the principal of the school, she found out that the accused had been involved in such kind of molestation with other girls too. Thereafter, a case under section 354A of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and under sections 10 and 18 of the POCSO Act was registered.
Advocate AJ Yagnik appeared on behalf of the applicant and contended that he has been falsely implicated in the case and that the FIR was lodged after a delay of 13 days thus, abusing the process of law. It was further contended that the police authorities had registered the FIR without carrying out any preliminary inquiry into the matter and had not received any affirmative evidences in the chargesheet.
APP C.M. Shah appeared for the respondent (State) and submitted that considering the nature, gravity and seriousness of the offence and the manner in which he executed the offence, no case was made out for exercising discretion in favour of the applicant.
Advocate Param Buch appeared for the original-complainant and submitted that at the bar the matter was amicably settled between the parties and that the applicant be released on bail. To which, the Court said that such practice was unwarranted when such a serious and heinous crime was committed and that it amounted to hampering/ tampering with the witness or evidence by the accused.
The Court observed that "The victim was barely a 12 years girl. The accused – appellant is a teacher. The accused instead of showing fatherly love, affection and protection to the child against the evils of the society, rather made her the victim of lust. It is a case where trust has been betrayed and social values are impaired."
The Court denied the bail and observed that "Crimes like this by a person of trust, change the perception of a child to look forward towards life in a positive way. Therefore, the accused deserves no leniency"
The Court further expressed its concern regarding the vulnerable position of a girl child in our country and said that "There are different modes of her exploitation, including sexual assault and/or sexual abuse. The exploitation of children in such a manner is a crime against humanity and the society. Therefore, the children and more particularly the girl child deserve full protection and need greater care and protection whether in the urban or rural areas. Children need special care and protection and, in such cases, responsibility on the shoulders of the Courts is more onerous so as to provide proper legal protection to these children. A minor who is subjected to sexual abuse needs to be protected even more than a major victim because a major victim being an adult may still be able to withstand the social rationalization and mental harassment meted out by society, but a minor victim will find it difficult to do so."
Accordingly, the Bail under section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code was denied.
Cause Title- Nihar Ranjitbhai Barad v. State of Gujarat
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