Kerala High Court Upholds POCSO Conviction Of Madrassa Usthad; Rejects His Plea Raising "Muslim Sectarian Rivalry" Angle

The accused, who was working as the Usthad (teacher) of Noorul Hidaya Madrassa, had argued that he was falsely implicated due to differences between various sects within the Muslim community. It was contended that the allegations were a result of rivalry between persons belonging to different religious sects.

Justice A. Badharudeen observed, “…no contradiction to be found to disbelieve the version of PW1, or other witnesses. The evidence of PW1 as to the sexual overtures at the instance of the accused found to be wholly reliable, supported by other evidence discussed in detail…sectarianism in the Muslim community led to registration of this crime also could not be found even remotely, as no convincing evidence forthcoming in this regard. Thus the contentions raised by the learned counsel for the appellant to upset the verdict impugned are found to be bereft of merit”.

“…Thus, it could be held that the evidence available would suggest that the appellant/accused committed the offences under Section 377 IPC, Sections 5(f) and 5(m) r/w. 6(1) as well as under Sections 9(m) and 9(o) r/w 10 of the POCSO Act and under Section 75 of the JJ Act and the learned Special Judge rightly found so. Therefore, the conviction entered by the learned Special Judge does not require any interference”, the Bench said.

Advocate C.P. Udayabhanu appeared for the petitioner and Vipin Narayan A, Senior Public Prosecutor appeared for the respondent.

As per the facts, the accused with sexual intention seated the minor on his lap, kissed him on his face, touched on his body, held on his penis by putting his hand through the Bermuda and inserted the penis of PW1 into the mouth of the accused and sucked the same.

The Court was hearing an appeal filed by the accused, who was convicted by the Special Court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 Kunnamkulam, for offences including aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act, Section 377 of the IPC and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.

The Court relied upon the testimony of the minor survivor, holding that his evidence was reliable and was supported by other materials on record. The Bench observed that there were no contradictions sufficient to disbelieve the survivor’s account.

The Court noted that the survivor was a student of the Madrassa and that the accused had used his position as a teacher to commit the offence. Finding no reason to interfere with the findings of the Special Court, the Bench dismissed the appeal and confirmed the conviction.

The Special Court had sentenced the accused to rigorous imprisonment for 20 years under Section 5(f) read with Section 6(1) of the POCSO Act, along with other sentences under the IPC, POCSO Act and JJ Act.

The High Court observed that since the minimum punishment prescribed under Section 6(1) of the POCSO Act had already been imposed, no reduction in sentence was possible.

“Coming to the sentence, since the minimum punishment for the offences punishable under Sections 5(f) and 5(m) as provided under Section 6(1) of the POCSO Act is imprisonment for a term not less than 20 years, which may extend upto imprisonment for life, no reduction in the sentence is possible, as the Special Court imposed only the minimum sentence. Therefore, the sentence also is confirmed”, the Bench observed.

Cause Title: Rasheed v. State Of Kerala (Neutral Citation: 2026:KER:42007)

Appearances:

Petitioner: C.P. Udayabhanu, Navaneeth.N.Nath, Rassal Janardhanan A., Abhishek M. Kunnathu, Boban Palat, P.U.Pratheesh Kumar, P.R.Ajay, K.U.Swapnil, Pranav Ushakar, Swetha Bijumon, Advocates.

Respondent: Vipin Narayan A, Sr Public Prosecutor.

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