A special Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) court in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, has sentenced two government teachers to six months of imprisonment each for assaulting a Dalit principal and abusing him with casteist slurs in 2017.
Additional Sessions Judge Jaiprakash also imposed fines on Yogendra Singh Yadav and Omprakash Lodhi under multiple sections of the law, according to government counsel MP Singh Chauhan.
The two teachers were employed at Adarsh Vidya Mandir Inter College in Ramnagar.
Principal Assaulted Over Sitting on a Chair
According to the complaint filed by principal Shri Krishna Datt, the incident took place on July 19, 2017, when he was in his office.
The two teachers allegedly entered the office, objected to him sitting on a chair, hurled casteist abuses at him and assaulted him with sticks. The incident also left his desk and chair overturned.
Datt further alleged that on July 21, 2017, the teachers assaulted him again outside Kishni police station when he went there to lodge a complaint. He said they abused him with casteist slurs and threatened to kill him.
Police registered a case following his complaint on July 22, 2017, under Sections 323, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Court Relies on Initial Complaint
During the trial, Datt reportedly turned hostile during cross examination. However, the court considered his initial statement and complaint while assessing the evidence.
The court observed that the defence had failed to explain why Datt would falsely implicate his colleagues. It also noted the possibility that he had faced pressure to retract his earlier statement.
The court convicted both teachers under the relevant provisions.
Yadav and Lodhi were each sentenced to one month of simple imprisonment and fined Rs 1,000 under Section 323 of the IPC. They received another month of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 each under Section 504, along with 15 days of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 each under Section 506.
Under the SC/ST Act, the court imposed six months of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 on each teacher.
The case was registered nearly nine years ago, following the principal’s complaint about the alleged assault and caste based abuse.
