Bihar school teacher jailed till death for raping a minor student

The court held it to be a inhuman act and awarded a sentence of imprisonment for life to both the accused.

A court in Bihar’s Vaishali district on Wednesday sentenced two persons including a government middle school teacher to life imprisonment till death for raping a class 8 student. The teacher and his friend were convicted for raping the minor girl, who studied at a tuition institute run by the prime accused in Vaishali district’s Mahnar block .

The court said that the accused had brought the noble profession of teaching into disrepute.. (Representative Photo)

The victim’s mother filed a complaint against the 38-year-old teacher in March 2019, alleging he raped her multiple times and used to blackmail her with video clips, he had filmed, of the crime. She also said that his friend was also involved in the crime.

Special public prosecutor Manoj Kumar Sharma said the accused were charged under Indian Penal Code sections for rape, illegal confinement, criminal intimidation, obscenity, outraging the modesty of women and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. During the trial, prosecution produced eight witnesses.

The special Pocso court of ADJ-6 Ashutosh Kumar Jha observed, “The accused, who represents the noble profession of a teacher, and being a married man, did not think of the future of his wife and children while blindly committing the crime to satisfy his lust and immoral wants. Instead of teaching the victim as a teacher, the accused misused his position and exploited the student for a long duration to derive sexual pleasure. This is an inhuman act and considering the gravity of the crime, the court deems it fit to award a sentence of imprisonment for life to the accused.”

The court also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh each on the accused and ordered the government to provide an ex-gratia of ₹10 lakh to the victim.

"The accused has been sentenced to life imprisonment till death under Section 376 AB of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," said the special public prosecutor, adding that Section 376 AB of the IPC deals with the punishment for raping a woman under 12 years of age.