Today, On 26th August, The Supreme Court has clarified that the offence of child abuse cannot be stretched to cover trivial acts. It ruled that a stray blow during a quarrel does not amount to child abuse without intent to harm.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court ruled that the offense of child abuse cannot be applied to trivial or incidental acts involving children, such as a blow during a quarrel.
Justices Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta stated that for an act to qualify as child abuse, there must be a clear intention of harm, cruelty, exploitation, or ill-treatment, which involves deliberate cruelty or mistreatment.
The Court emphasized that imposing serious penal consequences without such intent would unnecessarily broaden the law’s scope.
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It noted,
“The offence of child abuse necessarily presupposes an intention to cause harm, cruelty, exploitation, or ill-treatment directed towards a child in a manner that exceeds a mere incidental or momentary act during a quarrel. A simple blow with a school bag, without any evidence of deliberate or sustained maltreatment, does not satisfy the essential ingredients of child abuse. To invoke the penal consequences of such a serious offence in the absence of clear intention or conduct indicative of abuse would amount to an unwarranted expansion of the provision,”
This case dates back to February 2013, when a scuffle occurred on a school campus in Tivim, Goa. The prosecution claimed that the accused hit a child with his own son’s school bag, resulting in minor injuries.
The trial court found him guilty under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (use of criminal force), and 504 (provocation of a breach of peace) of the IPC, as well as under Section 8(2) of the Goa Children’s Act, which criminalizes child abuse.
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He was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment under the Act, along with concurrent sentences for the other offenses.
On appeal, the Bombay High Court reduced the sentence in 2022, determining that the act did not warrant severe punishment, but upheld the convictions under all provisions.
Before the Supreme Court, the appellant argued that a single blow with a school bag, lacking the intention to harm, did not constitute child abuse under the Act. He also sought relief under the Probation of Offenders Act, highlighting his background as a laborer and the fact that this was his only offense.
The State opposed leniency, asserting that the Goa Children’s Act was introduced to combat widespread child abuse in the region and that granting probation would weaken its deterrent effect.
Upon reviewing the records, the Court noted that the medical officer who examined the child acknowledged that the injuries could have resulted from a fall. It further clarified that the provision regarding child abuse under the Goa Children’s Act was designed to address cruelty, exploitation, or sustained maltreatment, not incidental actions during a scuffle.
The Court also overturned the conviction under Section 504 IPC, stating that the alleged verbal abuse did not constitute provocation likely to cause a breach of peace.
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However, it upheld the convictions under Sections 323 and 352 IPC for voluntarily causing hurt and assault. Instead of requiring the appellant to serve his sentence, the Court ordered his release on probation.
The appellant was represented by advocates Amrendra Kumar Mehta, Pallavi Daem, Gunjan Kumari, and Anubhav Bhardwaj, while the State was represented by advocates Har Karam Jot Kaur and Shikha Sarin.
Case Title: Santosh Sahadev Khajnekar vs. The State of Goa
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