Not Reporting Child Sex Abuse A Crime, Headmaster To Be Tried: Supreme Court

In a significant verdict on Thursday, the Supreme Court restored criminal proceedings against the headmistress of a school in Assam’s Guwahati, holding that a person who receives a direct complaint of sexual assault from a child under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cannot avoid the legal obligation to report it to police by conducting a private inquiry.

A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and KV Viswanathan said the expression “has knowledge that such an offence has been committed” under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act includes knowledge gained through credible information received directly from the victim.

The court set aside orders of the trial court and the Gauhati High Court that had discharged the headmistress from prosecution for allegedly failing to report the complaint of an eight-year-old student who accused a senior student of sexual assault.

According to the prosecution, the child informed her elder sister, the school’s Head Girl and eventually the headmistress about the alleged assault. Instead of informing the police, as mandated under the POCSO Act, the headmistress allegedly conducted her own “verification”, examined the child’s private parts, noticed redness and swelling, questioned the accused student and, after concluding that “nothing had happened”, did not report the matter to the authorities. She is also accused of asking students not to disclose the incident. (courtsy NDTV)(UPDATED ON 10TH JULY 2026)