Blind school teacher accused of sodomising students acquitted by Delhi court; children deny incident

Representational image. Reuters[/caption]Special Judge Prem Kumar Barthwal absolved the man, an assistant teacher at a blind school in south Delhi, of the offence of sodomy under the IPC and sexual assault under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO)."The material witnesses of the prosecution are PW1 and PW4 (alleged victims) and both of them have not supported the prosecution case during their depositions," the judge said.The court noted that the kids denied the incident and said they were called by the man who only asked them if they were studying well and that they should get a good score.One of the children further deposed that nothing wrong happened and it was only magnified by one Deepak Sharma."There is no medical evidence brought on record to substantiate or corroborate the charges of aggravated penetrative assault by the accused upon the children," the court said.According to the complaint, the students had informed the police that 14 November, 2013 their teacher had called them and asked them to commit unnatural sex with each other.When they refused, the accused himself committed the offence with them, it said. The complaint was lodged at Amar Colony Police Station in Delhi.Another student of the blind school had recorded his statement before a magistrate, saying he had heard from other boys of the hostel that some sexual act had taken place.During his cross-examination, he said he does not have any personal knowledge about the case, the court noted."In view of the discussion, the prosecution has failed to prove the charge under section 377 (unnatural sex) of the IPCand section 6 (sexual assault) of POCSO Act against the accused," it said.