Corporal Punishment By Teachers Not Crime, Rules Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has held that disciplinary caning or corporal punishment by school teachers, aimed at reforming students, does not constitute an offence under the BNS or the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, unless it involves vital body parts or sadistic conduct.

Justice C. Jayachandran, while deciding three cases, quashed FIRs against two teachers and granted bail to another accused of hitting a student with a PVC pipe.

The Court clarified that such conduct, though discouraged, is not criminal unless explicitly penalised and stressed the need for a preliminary inquiry before initiating prosecution to avoid undue psychological burden on teachers.