Abused by a teacher in school, the victim has fought for six years, undeterred by threats.
Chitra (name changed), sits at a podium, her face covered partially with her diaphanous shawl. Only her eyes are visible clearly beyond the mask, and in them, a curious mixture of sadness and triumph. For six years she fought on, and hardly four days ago, she first smelt success – a two-year conviction for the man who sexually abused her.
Chitra was a student at a school run by the Sevalaya Trust, Tiruvallur, during 2006-07. She said she was sexually abused by her Physics master Palanisamy when they happened to be alone in the physics lab. When a friend witnessed this, both of them were warned not to tell anyone about what had happened. If they did they would be failed in the examinations.
Subsequently, Chitra worked up the courage to inform the headmaster about the molestation, but was shocked, she said, when he told her that “such things are common here, and since you are provided with free education, do not disclose this to anyone until you complete Plus Two.”
Chitra also charged that she also spoke to the school correspondent, but no action was taken.
Later, she took her transfer certificate and joined another institution. Meanwhile, she informed one of the donors of the Sevalaya Trust of what had happened to her. M.Shreedhar, her advocate, filed a private complaint before the Judicial Magistrate-I of Tiruvallur. It was only after this did the girl file a case with the local police station, which, however, closed the case without investigation. Meanwhile, the German donors of that institution came to know of the issue.
The case dragged on, back and forth, between the Magistrate court in Tiruvallur and the High Court. And Chitra persisted right through. In the meantime, the school slapped defamation charges against many who were fighting for the girl, Mr. Sreedhar said. They continued to threaten Chitra and her family members trying to force them to withdraw the case, and the local police added to this, he charged.
Finally, the judgment was delivered at the JM-I, Tiruvallur court on December 11, Mr. Sreedhar added. The accused was sentenced to a period of two years rigorous imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000. “The only reason I persisted was because I knew if I didn’t that man would play with the life of other young girls in the school. Now I hope the school management that constantly kept trying to prevent justice for me, will be taken to task too,” Chitra said.
Very few cases of child sexual abuse even reach the court, only some of them result in conviction, Mr. Sreedhar says. “Chitra’s case is significant because she got justice at the end of it.”
Keywords: Child abuse, Tamil Nadu, Sevalaya Trust, Tiruvallur
Its so ironic to tell that the girl has got justice! For her 4 years of
struggle (Only she knows what kind of trauma and other external tortures
she had to face during the trial) the culprit gets two years of
punishment and what about the head master and correspondent?
Two years rigorous imprisonment and 10,000 rs fine imposed and you call that Justice!!! Laughable. A girl was molested by the teacher (a pedophile) and he was sentenced after 6 years of running pillar to post and you call that justice!! If media can report that Justice is served after judgement, then god help the people..I don't think that guy would have been let go so easily if he was in developed western country.. Lucky he is in a republic as India...
I have to disagree with you on the caption itself. If you look closely you will find that the girl has not got justice. I'm quite sure that the court has allowed the convicted persons to be on bail pending appeal in the sessions court. That is a common practice in India and the courts here are very generous in granting bail pending appeal. The action of the accused and the school management in the course of the judicial proceeding at various stages clearly amounts to obstruction of justice. Instead of booking them for this crime, the state seems to have gone a long happily with the accused in their manipulations of the system. It is not clear from the report what is the control exercised by the German charity. If that is substantial, it is incumbent on that organisation to restructure the institution and penalising the corrupt. In my estimate it will be a long long time if at all before the accused actually serve the sentence. In reality this is a case of injustice and not justice to the victims.
Just two years and 10,000 fine?!
That's why the reason for increasing crime rate in India. This is not deterant. Punishment should have been 10times the court& time expenses and 10years jail to the management and Police who backed the school.
This clearly shows the low value of women especially poor women in Indian society. The police, courts and the society as a whole are all male dominated and have little respect for women or the concept of justice
I request the girl to appeal for higher sentence and also file cases for very high
compensation from the head master and the management.The head master should be tried
as an accessory to the crime.
It is now High Time that the TN Government took a slew of steps in the matter of the unsavory incident at the school run by a Trust.
1)All the employees of the local police station which white washed the whole thing by closing the case without investigation should be sacked forthwith.
2)They should also be charged with abetting the crime and prosecuted.
3)The School's license should be immediately cancelled and all the important officials of the Trust and the school who threatened the girl and her family should be proceeded against for conspiracy and collusion in the crime.
4)The High Court should take up the matter and increase the sentence on the perpetrator by at least three more years.
A clear message will then be sent out to such schools and rapists not to trifle with innocent school children.
In my opinion the headmaster and the school correspondent should be punished for their inaction.
Teacher should be a model in behaviour. But, today, we recruit
teachers not on the basis of suitability, morals, ethics etc, but
based on all other considerations. Education must inculcate character
in students. A teacher, who himself has no character, cannot be
expected to inculcate character in his students. In one school, I know
of, some teachers routinely used to address students as DOG i.e.,
naaye in Tamil. Most students therefore used to call each other as
DOGs. They used to talk of their teachers also as DOgs. One or two bad
teachers were thus spoiling thousands of students. I don't think that
we will ever reform this teacher recruitment, without which, other
social evils are bound to spread more and more in future. Teacher can
be Great catalytic agent or a parasite spreading dangerous
psychological diseases in society.
What kind of justice is this? Two years and 10000 rupees? Why not 10 years and 50 Lakh. Harsh punishment acts as a deterrent. Now with regard to a school which says that rape is common since the victim is poor. Govt should take action to stop its functioning and confiscate its property. There is no guarantee that such schools run by idiots will do not repeat such crimes.
It's sad that the physics teacher got just a 2 year conviction. In foreign countires the punishments are severe for child sex abusement. What about the principal and correspondent's of the school? They should be punished as well. The goverment should interfere and make sure that the childern are safe and they report these kind od abuses to their parents.
action should be taken against all the people who tried to cover the incident including headmaster,correspondent and police officials then only full justice will be done and it should be warning to the other culprits and further these kind of cases should be referred to fast track courts
Very good. Too small a sentence, but that is for the honourable judge to decide. Now, where are the charges of aiding and abetting the criminal and the crime, namely against the police personnel and the headmaster of the school?
Kudos to Chitra for coming forward and finally receiving a "So called
Justice". We need more brave girls like this in our society.
But the more important question is...Two years and a fine of Rs 10,000
really? Is that the cost of playing with a life of a Little Girl? And
a 6 Years time period to get to this meager judgement? Isn't this embarrassing? For a country where you pray to so many Goddesses such
crimes should be brought to justice within a month if not earlier. And
not only the teacher who assaulted her but everyone else involved in
keeping this undercover should be tried.
High time India awakens to stop these hideous crimes against girls.
With such meager punishments and the time that is takes to get there
psychopaths out there have no fear what so ever to go out and do more
crimes!
An eyeopener for everyone...!
two years seems to be ridiculously less for such a heinous crime. This shows that child abuse is treated in a callous manner and the onus of proving the crime is surprisingly on the victim than the perpetrator. This chap should be in prison for a minimum of 15 years without the option of parole. in western democracies harsher sentences are handed over for even distributing child porn leave alone abusing one.
I feel this incident gives hope to all the women out there who have
faced such incidents and are still struggling in darkness, and at the
same time I feel the punishment needs to be more severe, such that men
don't even dare to do such things again in future.
Six years to adjudicate a harassement claim. So sad. No wonder crime and corruption
are so prevalent in India. You can get away with crime so what is the deterrent.
Well done Chitra.
Congratulations to Chitra. But only 2 years of imprisonment that is sad. The accused should have got more punishment.
Good that the girl got justice.
But it is shame it took 6 six years to get justice. The justice should be given in 1 month.
What about the police which closed the case. Any action taken against them
Kudos bravo child. The justice given to you should evoke similar protests from other children who are victim of sex abuse. I pray for your welfare in the future.
2 years is a small sentence And was he dismissed from his job?
Only two years rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs. 10,000 is
ridiculous. There should much much harsh punishment or else there will
be many more cases like the delhi bus rape case.
Well Done Chitra. More such Chitra's should come up. The only question is the future safety of Chitra. Hope things are planned accordingly
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