“Compromise” Can’t Lead To Cancellation Of Sexual Harassment Case: Supreme Court

A sexual harassment case cannot be cancelled because the complainant and the accused have reached a ‘compromise’, the Supreme Court ruled today. The court set aside a Rajasthan High Court order, which had given relief to a teacher accused of sexually harassing his minor student, and ordered his prosecution.

The matter relates to a 2022 case in Rajasthan’s Gangapur city. A minor Dalit girl accused a government school teacher for sexual harassment in a police complaint. Accordingly, a case was filed. The case also invoked the POCSO Act and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The minor’s statement was also recorded.

However, the accused teacher, Vimal Kumar Gupta, got a statement from the girl’s family on a stamp paper. This statement said that they registered a police complaint out of a misunderstanding and no longer wanted any action against the teacher. Police accepted this and filed a report. But a lower court rejected this statement. The accused then approached the high court, which accepted it and ordered the FIR cancelled. Ramji Lal Bairwa, a social worker, challenged this high court judgment in the Supreme Court. The bench of Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar overturned the high court ruling, clearing the decks for the accused teacher’s prosecution.