NEW DELHI: Holding that sexual assault of a child is too serious a crime to be allowed to be quashed without trial on the basis of compromise between the accused and survivor's family, Supreme Court on Thursday said that such offences are not private in nature but against the whole society. A bench of Justices C T Ravikumar and Sanjay Kumar set aside an order of Rajasthan high court which had quashed criminal proceedings against a teacher in sexual assault case of class XI student. The HC let the accused off on the ground that the student's family compromised with the teacher just a week after the case was lodged.
Though the father of the survivor supported the accused in SC also, the court did not accept his plea and paved the way for trial against him on a petition filed by neighbours of the victim student. "In view of the nature of the offences alleged against the third respondent (the accused), one can only say that if they are proved they could be treated only as offences against the society and at any rate, it cannot be said that prosecuting an offender against whom such allegations are made is not in the interest of the society. In fact, it would only be in the interest of society.
In that view of the matter, when by quashing the FIR by invoking the power under Section 482, Cr. P.C.
, the accused was relieved of the liability to face the trial...
," the bench said. The apex court said that the HC must have given due regard to the nature and gravity of the crime. It said .