A petition for bail filed by school teacher Kumud, accused of running away with a class XI student, has been turned down by principal sessions judge P Kalaiyarasan.
A case was registered against the 37-year-old woman. While the 17-year-old student’s father Saravana Kumar had lodged a complaint when he went missing on February 4, 2012, this was later altered to a case of kidnapping. After a habeas corpus petition was filed in the Madras high court, the police traced the teacher and the student to Gurgaon, New Delhi. They were brought back to the city on March 15. While she was sent to prison, the boy was reunited with his parents.
The judge said the teacher, “forgetting her noble profession, had exploited her lust.” The act made for a prime facie case which fell well within the ambit of offence under Section 365 IPC as she, “by deceitful means, induced the adolescent boy, and took him from Chennai to Delhi, and kept him secretly.”
In her petition, Kumud said she had remained in custody for the last 36 days and that she was innocent of the charges levelled against her as the boy had come with her voluntarily. Pointing out that she had to look after her child and since she had a permanent home in the city, Kumud sought for bail, on the ground that she would abide by any condition that the court would impose.
City public prosecutor M L Jegan opposed the petition contending that the student was a gold medalist and that his future would be affected if she was let out on bail, as there was a chance they might run away together again. He added that the investigation was not complete either. Passing orders, the judge observed that though the boy’s parents had stopped him from going to school for about a month, after coming to know of his closeness with the teacher, he did not return home after he was sent for his practical exam.
–Courtesy:TOi