Shimla, July 8 -- The Himachal Pradesh High Court has refused to quash an FIR registered against the principal of a private school in Parwanoo, holding that the absence of clinical signs of trauma in a psychologist's report cannot be a ground to terminate criminal proceedings under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Justice Rakesh Kainthla, while dismissing the petition filed by Vibha Bansal, principal of I-Genius School, observed that publicly branding a child as a "thief" and threatening him with imprisonment would, at the prima facie stage, amount to causing mental suffering.

"A teacher calling a child a thief in the presence of the classmates and threatening to put him behind bars for lif...