Ten months later, Tamil Nadu victim of the Dalit Pocso case still lacks justice

A child in Coimbatore who claims that her instructor sexually harassed her ten months ago is circling about, attempting to take legal action against others who were either directly or indirectly involved.

The complaint was made by a girl enrolled in a government school’s class IX against her physical education (PE) instructor and others who backed him.

On April 15, 2023, when she was enrolled in Class VIII, the tragedy occurred. She added that even though she immediately reported it to her instructors, the headmistress, and the assistant headmaster, no police complaint was made. She said they attempted an amicable resolution as well.

But when the matter was discovered in December 2023, the police filed a complaint against the PE instructor under Pocso Act sections 9(l) and 10.

“The police booked the case only on the perpetrator and continued investigation against others at a snail’s pace, despite the fact that we submitted a detailed complaint two months ago mentioning the names of other teachers who tried to cover up the issue,” the victim’s mother said.

She went on, “My daughter sent a thorough appeal to the district collector on Monday about the problems she has been enduring after losing trust in both the police and the school department. But as of now, nothing has changed, and on Thursday, I got a response from the collectorate stating that the petition had been sent to the police department once again. Taking swift punishment against those responsible will make other kids feel hopeful and make prospective offenders more afraid. However, we believe that those who attempted to conceal the occurrence and those who backed the offender have not even received the barest of sanctions.

Superintendent of Police V Badrinarayanan said, “We have changed the Pocso sections and used the provisions of the SC/ST Act and the Juvenile Justice Act,” when questioned. He said that there would be no hold-up and that nobody would be spared.

According to R Balamurali, Chief Educational Officer, “We will take action depending on the probe result.”