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Mangaluru: A school teacher was declared guilty of sexually harassing a minor girl student and sentenced to undergo five years imprisonment by the Additional District and Sessions Court (POCSO FTSC-1) Judge D Vinay.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on the teacher named Guruva Mugera alias Guruva M P (49) from Hatyadka in Arasinamakki. He is presently staying in Kallamundkur. The teacher used to instruct students to visit him in a separate room in the school if they needed leave or had any doubts related to the curriculum.
Occasionally, he used to summon students alone to the room and sexually harass them. The students reported it to the school principal. Following this, a complaint of sexual harassment on two occasions by a student was registered at the Mangaluru Women's Police Station. Similarly, four other students also filed complaints.
Judge D Vinay upheld the arguments of Special Public Prosecutor Sahanadevi Bolur and sentenced Guruv to under one year of simple imprisonment under section 354 (sexual harassment) of IPC and slapped a fine of Rs 2,000. He was asked to undergo additional 3 months of imprisonment if the fine is not paid. Under Section 10 (POCSO), he was sentenced to five years of simple imprisonment and slapped with a fine of Rs 5,000. He was asked to undergo an additional 1 year of imprisonment if the fine is not paid.
Under Section 12 (POCSO), he was sentenced to three years of simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 3,000, with an additional 1 year of imprisonment if the fine is not paid. The court ordered a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the victim by the Legal Services Authority. Women Station PSI Shivarudramma had filed the chargesheet in the court.
Guruv had been married and had two daughters. The special public prosecutor said that the verdict was delivered within seven months, in line with the Supreme Court's directives to expedite POCSO cases nationwide. The case was registered at the Women's Police Station on March 12, 2024, following a complaint by the students.