Affair between teacher, student does not account for seduction: SC

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) In an important ruling, the Supreme Court has held that if there is a love affair between a teacher and a student, it does not mean that the girl has been seduced or allured or induced for sexual intercourse.

The ruling was handed down by a bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and Markandey Katju while giving a clean chit to a Madhya Pradesh government school teacher Omkar Prasad Verma, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1000 for raping a class seven student by threatening her that he would fail her if she did not oblige him.

When the girl became pregnant, he made her undergo an abortion.

The girl, in her complaint in 1997, had alleged that she was 13 and a half-year-old, when she was blackmailed by the appellant.

The accused was convicted for an offence under section 376 B IPC (undue influence exercised by a public servant when the victim is in his custody).

The apex court, while giving a clean chit to appellant Verma, noted that the girl was 18 years and the physical relationship was the outcome of mutual consent. And since the incident took place outside the school, it cannot be said that the victim was in his custody.

The apex court, while setting aside the judgement of the trial court as well as of Madhya Pradesh High Court, said that a physical relationship between a teacher and a student cannot be termed as rape unless and until the allegations of the victim having been seduced or induced by a public servant when the victim was in his custody are proved in the court.

UNI