Despite having struggled for years to empower women, there’s a strange amount of backlash when it comes to reacting to crimes committed against them. While the general public starts questioning the victim, 2018’s Kathua rape case is proof that lawyers can go to great lengths to prevent anyone from filing a report against the accused. But in a democracy, we’ve never let majoritarian morality govern what’s right and what’s wrong. And no one knows that better than the principal of a Mumbai school.
According to Mumbai Mirror, the principal of a school in Andheri, Mumbai fought for five years to get justice for her students who had reported a case of sexual harassment against one of the teachers.
The principal of the school (name not revealed as per the guidelines of the POCSO Act) had exposed a teacher for sexually harassing around 40 girl students in 2013. The first information report against the teacher mentioned three victims, and he was convicted of sexual harassment yesterday.
The entire process was done through a special POCSO court that sentenced the teacher to three years of rigorous imprisonment on Monday. The court found him guilty of sexual harassment, but found him innocent of the allegations of sexual assault, outraging modesty and criminal intimidation. The accused is currently out on bail and has the option of moving the high court against the order.
While talking about her struggle to attain justice, the principal said that she had filed a police complaint under the POCSO Act. However, she was surprised to see that the school management was in support of the teacher and against her.
In April 2013, three students had approached the principal accusing their math teacher for sending porn clips and touching them inappropriately in the class. A few months later in December, a sum total of 40 students of the same class made similar allegations. They even said that they had to pour water on their benches or keep their bags to prevent the teacher from sitting beside them.
Considering how the principal was convinced that the teacher was guilty, she went ahead with the complaint, even though the management had removed her from her post on July 14, 2014 and even reinstated the accused. This meant that she had to seek help from her former students, live in gurudwaras and churches because she didn’t have the money to pay for hotels while staying in New Delhi for her Supreme Court hearings.
The principal was backed by an NGO called Mass India. The Schools Tribunal and the Bombay High Court supported her claims and said that her sacking was wrong. However, she said that her biggest victory was when her students got justice.
“My job was to ensure that the charges were not dismissed as lies. We had to prove that these were facts. Those who committed such crimes have no right to be in a school. Teachers are supposed to be role models, but this man has tarnished the image of all teachers.”
As the Supreme Court had ruled in 2017 that the principal must be reinstated, she’s currently back in her job and the wages that were withheld has been paid to her in full. She says that there’s still a lot of tension between her and school management. But she says that she’ll ask them that how’s she wrong when the courts have already said who’s guilty and who’s innocent.
Just to know both sides of the story, Mumbai Mirror reached out to the accused teacher to know what he thinks about his current situation. And his answer was quite predictable.
If the hollowness of his rebuttal wasn’t clear enough, the brave principal dismissed the teacher’s allegations of revenge saying that,
“I was the one who gave him an award but when he committed an offence it was my duty to discipline him. Should I have remained silent?”
The school management has promised that the accused teacher will be removed from his post. But what about it’s hypocritical move to reinstate him in the first place and remove the principal? Well, one of its trustees says that that’s because she didn’t attend a hearing and that’s why they had no choice but to dismiss the charges against the teacher.
With such damning evidence against the teacher, there’s no doubt that he will be sent to jail again in no time. And that’s all due to the strength and will power of this one principal and all those who were in support of her. Her story shows how far we’ve to go in order to lend our ears in an effort to find the truth. Because cases like these are creeping up in every level of the society and if we don’t act fast, criminals like this teacher will be right at our doorstep.