Supreme Court Rules “Compromise” Cannot Lead to Cancellation of Sex Harassment Case

The Supreme Court ruled today that a sexual harassment case cannot be dismissed simply because the complainant and the accused have reached a ‘compromise’. The ruling came as the Court overturned a Rajasthan High Court decision that had granted relief to a teacher accused of sexually harassing a minor student, directing that the prosecution proceed.

The case stems from a 2022 incident in Gangapur city, Rajasthan, where a minor Dalit girl had accused a government school teacher of sexual harassment. The case, which invoked the POCSO Act and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, was filed after the girl’s police complaint and her statement was recorded.

However, the accused teacher, Vimal Kumar Gupta, later obtained a statement from the girl’s family on stamp paper, stating that they had filed the complaint out of misunderstanding and no longer wished to pursue any action. The police accepted the family’s statement and filed a closure report. A lower court rejected this, but the accused then approached the Rajasthan High Court, which accepted the statement and ordered the FIR to be quashed.

Social worker Ramji Lal Bairwa challenged this decision in the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of continuing the prosecution. A bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and PV Sanjay Kumar set aside the High Court’s order, ensuring that the case against the teacher would move forward.