Gandhinagar: A local court has sentenced a school teacher to more than three years of imprisonment for slapping a Class 9 student over unfinished homework, an assault that ruptured the girl’s left eardrum and resulted in long-term hearing impairment.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Himanshu Choudhary, in a judgment pronounced on January 30, held that the offence amounted to a grave abuse of authority by a teacher and caused serious physical and medical consequences to the 14-year-old victim. The court observed that even four-and-a-half years after the incident, the student was still undergoing medical treatment for the injury.
The court convicted the accused teacher, Parulben Patel, under Section 325 of the Indian Penal Code for voluntarily causing grievous hurt and under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act for assaulting a child. She was sentenced to three years and three months in prison and fined ₹50,000, which the court directed to be paid as compensation to the victim.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on January 1, 2020, at Baa Shri Vasantkuvarba School, a private institution in Gandhinagar. The teacher allegedly slapped the student thrice on her left ear after getting angry over incomplete homework. Medical examination later confirmed a perforation of the girl’s left eardrum, categorising the injury as grievous.
Following a complaint filed by the student’s family, Sector-21 police registered an FIR against the teacher two days after the incident. During the trial, medical evidence and testimonies of doctors supported the prosecution’s case and corroborated the nature and severity of the injury.
In her defence, the teacher claimed that the student was indisciplined and negligent towards her studies, and alleged that the case was falsely lodged after the matter was brought to the parents’ notice. Her counsel also sought leniency on medical grounds, stating that she was suffering from cancer.
The court rejected the plea, noting that no documentary proof of the alleged illness was produced. It ruled that the seriousness of the offence, the abuse of a position of trust, and the lasting harm caused to a minor outweighed any mitigating circumstances. Granting probation, the court said, would undermine the principles of deterrence and child protection.
