Karnataka High Court refuses to quash rape case against government school teacher for repeated abuse and blackmail of colleague

The High Court of Karnataka refused to a quash rape case against a 47-year-old government school teacher for allegedly raping a guest teacher repeatedly for over a year by threatening to leak her nude photographs and get her removed from her job if she did not cooperate with him and disclosed his conduct.

The allegations made in the complaint and the charge-sheet depict “not consent but submission extracted under duress” and that the petitioner must face a full-fledged trial, said Justice M. Nagaprasanna while rejecting the contention of petitioner Lingaraja Naik H., who had claimed that the alleged sexual acts were consensual in nature.

According to the complaint, the petitioner developed an acquaintance with the survivor, who had joined as a guest teacher in 2023. Initially, he used to summon her to the office room, close windows, and sexually abuse her and then threaten her. After some time, he compelled her to send her nude photos through phone by threatening that he would get her removed from the job through the Block Education Officer if she refused.

Later, he had forced intercourse with her multiple times at school, at her home, and at other places by blackmailing her that he would release her nude photos on social media if she failed to cooperate.

The survivor said that she tolerated sexual assaults, and hid them from her husband and children due to fear of losing her job, as her salary of ₹10,000 per month was important for her family. Finally, she disclosed the petitioner’s conduct to her husband, on whose instruction she called the petitioner to the house where her husband and brother caught the petitioner lying nude on bed.

It was claimed in the complaint that the petitioner gave a written assurance to her husband not to approach the victim again and subsequently, the victim suffered depression and underwent psychiatric treatment.

She lodged the complaint with the police in 2024 as the petitioner made attempts to force her again, as he had become the in-charge head of the school.

“The complaint narrates, in vivid and distressing detail, how the petitioner allegedly exploited asymmetry of power, first by displaying or capturing nude images, then by threatening dissemination and thereafter, coercing sexual favours under the twin spectres of professional ruin and public humiliation,” the court said while making it clear that its observations would not influence further proceedings before the trial court.