Teacher imprisoned for child molestation

A male tutor was sentenced to five years in prison for child molestation recently, and banned from working in close contact with minors for life, according to the Qingyang District People's Court in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

The man repeatedly committed indecent acts against a 10-year-old girl while teaching her one-to-one after school between December 2021 and May 2022, according to the court.

It is the first criminal case in Chengdu banning someone from working in close contact with minors for life since the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Education issued a guideline on those working in the education sector who commit violent crimes against children, including sexual assault, abuse, abduction or trafficking. It went into effect on Nov 15.

In order to prevent perpetrators from committing crimes again, the revised Criminal Law adopted in 2015 set forth provisions on employment prohibitions. The Law on the Protection of Minors revised in 2020 strengthened the protection of minors, adding a possible lifelong ban on working with minors.

When the guideline came into effect, the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing pronounced a verdict in a case where a teacher hired by a school was sentenced to imprisonment for child molestation and was prohibited from working with minors.

The teacher had molested a 10-year-old student several times during one-to-one teaching. In March 2022, the girl's family reported the case and the teacher was arrested.

Courts in Jiangsu, Henan, Heilongjiang, Gansu, Anhui and Liaoning provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have implemented the similar bans.