Thane: A special Pocso Court in Thane has convicted a 37-year-old teacher for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old student in 2019 during a “surprise test”, and sentenced him to three years of rigorous imprisonment.Such acts tarnish the sacred teacher-student bond, said special judge Ruby U Malvankar Kadam in the order on Tuesday. According to prosecution, the crime was committed by Deepak Shrimant Kadam at a technical institute. Kadam, a senior teacher, summoned the complainant to his cabin under the pretext of the “test”. He then inappropriately touched her, special public prosecutor Yogendra Patil said. The student immediately reported the matter to her friends and father, leading to an FIR. While Kadam said the girl filed the complaint to escape from “poor” attendance, court rejected this defence as an “afterthought”, noting that he failed to provide evidence of such disciplinary issues. “The accused, by his indecent behaviour, has clearly presented an ugly and heinous picture to the students which would have shattered their faith and tarnished the image of guru-shishya bond,” said the judge.
