Bombay HC overturns Navi Mumbai teacher’s rape conviction after 7 years

The school teacher had been repeatedly protesting his innocence, yet no one paid any attention to him. Representation Pic

A school teacher convicted in a POCSO case, despite forensic evidence proving otherwise, and imprisoned in Nashik Central prison since December 2016, is set to walk free after 92 months this week as the Bombay High Court has acquitted him. His wife stood by his side like an iron pillar to prove his innocence.

After the arrest of her husband, the woman had to sell off her jewellery to make ends meet. Narrating her ordeal, she revealed that she was shunned by her society after her husband was jailed. In a bid to avoid public outcry, she had to change her rented accommodation and keep a low profile for the past few months, doing odd jobs to survive and bear the educational expenses of her two sons, whose studies were affected by the case.

The allegations

The school teacher faced public humiliation after a 13-year-old girl accused him of raping her twice on school premises. She claimed that she was told she'd face dire consequences if she spoke up to anyone. The minor's mother learnt she was four weeks pregnant after she took her to a gynaecologist after she missed her menstrual cycle in September 2016.

The school teacher had been repeatedly protesting his innocence, yet no one paid any attention to him. Representation Pic

Though the forensic analysis tests, conducted at Kalina and thereafter in a laboratory at Hyderabad, "excluded the school teacher to be the biological father", the lower court found him guilty of rape. In 2019, he was awarded a 10-year jail term for the "offence". His wife told mid-day, "I was booked twice by the Maharashtra police for protesting against the system which falsely implicated and wrongly convicted my husband despite the forensic report being in his favour. But the court was kind enough to quash the FIRs against me."

"The false case against my husband ruined my entire life. Both my sons were toppers but after the arrest of my husband, they were treated badly so their studies were affected. They stopped going to school," she added. "The day the lower court pronounced judgement, my husband told the judge to hang him to set an example that a POCSO accused, despite a forensic report contradicting his culpability. He cried in the courtroom, but his plea was not heard," she said.

The case

The man was school teacher in Navi Mumbai when a student accused him of getting her pregnant. After a rape case was registered against him in September 2016 at Nerul police station, a politician mounted pressure on the cops who arrested the teacher from Delhi in December 2016; and since then he has been imprisoned. Though the teacher continued to tell the police and lower court that he had not raped the minor and was willing to undergo medical examinations, the prosecution paid no heed his pleas.

A DNA test conducted by Kalina and Hyderabad laboratories and the forensic analysis reports revealed that the school teacher was not involved in the crime. But the investigating officer submitted a charge sheet against the school teacher. "That the minor was raped and impregnated is a fact. However, the forensic report proved that my husband is not the father. The police did not bother to find out the truth and continued to torture us despite the minor telling the police that she was raped by her cousin and boyfriend," said the wife.

"Why were the DNA samples of her cousin and boyfriend not taken to ascertain who impregnated the minor girl? Who will return the precious 92 months of our life? Will my husband get a job anywhere now? The corrupt system has ruined everything. I will take legal action against one and all," she vowed.

Defence lawyer says

Advocate Siddh Vidya, the lawyer of the school teacher, said, "The Bombay High Court reiterated that as per criminal jurisprudence, it is better that ten guilty people go free than that one innocent person be convicted. The investigation must be fair, honest, just and in accordance with the law. The purpose of the investigation is to bring out the truth of the case before the court of law. In this case, the role of the prosecution is extremely questionable. They did not bring on record a report of the Child Welfare Committee."

"After the DNA report established that the school teacher was not the biological father, the prosecution did not make efforts to find the real culprit who impregnated the victim and continued accusing him. The prosecution did not make any effort to dig out under what circumstances or under whose pressure the victim suppressed the facts about her pregnancy. This still remains a question and therefore, in a way, justice is still awaited," she added.