False or exaggerated invocation of the POCSO Act undermines the sanctity of legislation enacted for genuine victims, the Madras High Court observed. (Image generated using AI)

Madras High Court news: The Madras High Court recently quashed criminal proceedings initiated against a school teacher under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, observing that corrective classroom discipline cannot be criminalised under a stringent child protection statute.

Justice L Victoria Gowri passed the order while allowing a petition filed by a teacher seeking the quashing of proceedings pending before a POCSO court.

Justice L Victoria Gowri heard the matter on April 30.

“Corrective classroom discipline, absent anything more, cannot be criminalised under a stringent child protection statute,” the Madras High Court observed in its order dated April 30.

Registration of FIR

According to the prosecution, a Class 7 student had alleged that the teacher subjected her to “bad touch” in the school…