Mumbai: A school teacher accused of beating a Kindergarten student with a ruler has urged the Bombay High Court to quash the case, saying section 324 IPC (causing hurt by dangerous weapon) cannot be invoked in this matter.
A wooden foot ruler is not a dangerous weapon and hence she was wrongly booked under this IPC section, said Michelle Mark Anthony, the teacher at ST Columbia School in Grant Road here.
The father and grand mother of the girl child had filed a complaint with police earlier alleging that the teacher had beat their ward with a foot ruler, following which a case was registered.
Advocate Anil Lalla, appearing for Michelle, argued that the allegations were baseless as the prosecution's case was based on the statements given by the child's parents who had not witnessed the incident.
He further said that the child had fallen down and sustained bruises and minor injuries. Thereafter, the girl had attended the school and for the next 48 hours there was no complaint against the teacher.
The complaint against Michelle was registered much later, the petitioner's advocate said.
Denying that the teacher had beat the child with the ruler, he said the police had wrongly invoked IPC section 324 (causing injuries by dangerous weapon) as a foot ruler cannot be called as a 'dangerous weapon'.
The lawyer prayed that the case against the teacher may be dropped.
A bench of Justices V M Kanade and P D Kode, hearing the matter yesterday, said in lighter vein, "It is bad to beat children....In foreign countries even parents can be sent to jail if their child complains of being assaulted by them".
The matter has been kept for further hearing on Thursday.
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