Register a case against a teacher only after an enquiry
A preliminary inquiry must be conducted before registering a criminal case against a teacher for any bonafide act done in the school to discipline their students and the accused teacher should not be arrested during the preliminary enquiry.
Such an enquiry is essential to ensure that teachers are not unfairly targeted, says the High Court of Kerala (HCK) in Sibin SV v State of Kerala [2025: KER:20847].
Students are threatening & attacking teachers
Nowadays, students are reported to be coming to school with weapons, and after using drugs, and they are threatening teachers, and even attacking them. They involve in serious criminal cases, and some of them are even addicts of drugs and alcohol.
Therefore, teachers should be given some leeway in enforcing discipline for the greater good of the student community.
Teachers cannot teach their students under the threat of registration of criminal cases for the silly acts that they take in order to enforce discipline in the school.
Complaints against teachers are on the increase
There has been a growing tendency of registering criminal cases against teachers based on the complaints of their students or the parents’ alleging misbehaviour, assault, etc.
Therefore, many teachers hesitate to enforce discipline due to the fear of such prosecution.
Teaches should not suffer for bonafide disciplining
No teacher should suffer because she advised a student or gave minor punishments for his indiscipline and misbehaviour.
Teacher was accused of assaulting a student with cane
The HCK has made these observations while granting bail to a school teacher accused of assaulting a sixth-standard student with a cane.
He was charged with offences punishable under Section 118 (1) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhitha, 2023 (for short ’BNS’) and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (for short ‘JJ Act’).
Teacher plays a crucial role in student’s overall development
The role of a teacher is important in the mental, physical and educational development of a student.
Once students are entrusted or admitted in a school, the teachers must do the needful for better development of the mental health, physical health, discipline and educational development of the student.
The teachers are not just educators, they are mentors, role models and guardians of our future.
Parents give an implied consent to discipline students
In Geetha Manoharan v State of Kerala & Others [2019:KER:66264], The HCK observed that a teacher who in the course of imparting education beats a student bona fide to maintain discipline, then such a teacher is given an implied consent by the parent to discipline the pupil for the welfare of the pupil and it flows from the well-known common law principle of ‘Loco parentis’. In such a case, it cannot be said that the teacher has committed an offence.
References
- Sibin SV v State of Kerala [2025: KER:20847]
- Geetha Manoharan v State of Kerala & Others [2019:KER:66264]
