Sexual harassment cases cannot be settled through compromise: Supreme Court
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court in an important verdict on Thursday have said that a compromise between the accused and the complainant in a case of sexual harassment cannot be closed . Supreme Court has set aside the Rajasthan High Court's order, which acquitted a teacher accused of sexually abusing a minor student and ordered the case against him to be closed.
The verdict was delivered by a bench of Justice CT Ravikumar and PV Sanjay Kumar. The court said, "The decision of the High Court is being cancelled." Let the criminal proceedings continue as per law. The verdict was reserved in October 2023. The question raised in this case is whether the High Court can exercise its power under Section 482 CrPC to dismiss a case of sexual harassment on the basis of a settlement between the accused and the victim.
The case came to light when a complaint was filed by a father on sexual harassment of a 15year old girl . However, a compromise was reached between the victim's family and the accused and based on this, the accused approached the Rajasthan High Court to close the case. The court accepted the plea and closed the criminal case.
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