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Father accused of neglect, assault by teen son let off by Chandigarh court
The man, a resident of Kishangarh, was booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, in August 2019, after the boy had run away from home, accusing him of neglecting him and beating him up
Observing that admonition by a parent for poor academic performance and skipping school cannot be termed as cruelty, a local court has set free a man accused of neglect and assault by his 14-year-old son.
The man, a resident of Kishangarh, was booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, at the IT Park police station in August 2019, after the boy had run away from home, accusing him of neglecting him and beating him up.
According to the family, the boy did not return from school on August 13, 2018. On enquiring from his teacher, it was found that he never attended school that day.
Fearing that he had been kidnapped, his father approached the police and a case under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code was registered. Nearly a year later, the boy returned home on June 18, 2019.
When his statement was recorded in court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the teenager said he had left on his own accord, as his father used to beat him up and didn’t look after him.
The child’s custody was handed over to his mother on August 9, 2019, and after seeking a legal opinion, police booked and arrested his father.
During trial, the prosecution examined seven witnesses, including the boy, who reiterated his allegations. He further claimed his father would use foul language against him and his mother, and also didn’t provide for his books and notebooks. After running away from home, he had travelled to Amritsar and stayed at the railway station there.
His mother, another prosecution witness, was declared hostile after she deposed that her son never revealed any maltreatment by his father to her.
The defence counsel, meanwhile, argued that the entire story was fabricated. They argued that the boy’s father never rebuked or beat him up. In fact, the boy was poor in studies and the accused would only push him to improve. As he did not want to study, the boy himself left home.
After hearing the arguments, the court observed that the boy admitted that he was weak in studies during cross examination. Till Class 8, the expenses of his studies were borne by the government and his father paid the expenses in Class 9. He used to skip school and had remained absent from school for 15 days before he ran away. Even the educational expenses of his elder sister are borne by his father.
“Since the minor child was poor in studies and used to skip school for weeks together, no father would tolerate such behaviour and some reprimand is natural in such situation. But such reprimand and admonition by a parent can’t be termed as cruelty under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice Act. No prudent and caring father would like to see his child going astray. In fact, it is the duty of the father to show right path to his child,” said the court of additional chief judicial magistrate TPS Randhawa while acquitting the father.
