Filed Administrative Lawsuit to Cancel Disposition but Lost
"School Violence Causing Sufficient Distress"
High school male students who insulted a female classmate by attaching the name of an adult device to her name and made other derogatory remarks were disciplined for school violence. They later filed an administrative lawsuit but ultimately lost.
The Administrative Division 1-3 of Incheon District Court (Presiding Judge Go Seung-il) announced on the 3rd that it ruled against two high school male students, including A, in a lawsuit seeking to cancel the disciplinary action for school violence filed against the head of an education support office in Incheon. The court dismissed the claim and ordered both A and the other student to bear all litigation costs.
In October 2022, when A and the other student were first-year high school students, they made sexually insulting remarks toward female classmate B in a school classroom. Although B was not present at the time, other classmates in the same class as A and the others witnessed the situation.
It was investigated that A combined B’s name with a term referring to an adult device to make insulting remarks. B, having heard about this from three other friends who witnessed the situation, reported it to the school. B also claimed that A and the others posted mocking and ridiculing comments about her on an anonymous website.
The School Violence Countermeasure Deliberation Committee of the relevant education support office recognized the incident as school violence in January of last year and decided on disciplinary measures for A and the other student, including six hours of community service and an order not to threaten or retaliate against B until graduation. However, the committee excluded the mocking comments on the anonymous website from the disciplinary action due to lack of objective evidence.
Subsequently, A and the other student filed an administrative lawsuit seeking to cancel the disciplinary action for school violence. In their lawsuit, they claimed, "We never made sexually insulting remarks referring to B," and argued that "the friends who conveyed the victim’s statements later retracted their testimonies, saying it was a misunderstanding, and since there is no evidence, the school violence disciplinary action is risky."
However, the court judged that it was true that they made sexually insulting remarks toward B, and that this constituted school violence.
The court stated, "B reported the incident after receiving the victim’s account from three friends who witnessed it. The witnesses’ testimonies were quite detailed and included information that would be difficult to fabricate without actually seeing the incident, so they are credible," adding, "Although some witnesses retracted their statements, it appears they did so out of concern that A, with whom they are close, might suffer disadvantages or that their relationships with him might worsen, thus trying to avoid responsibility."
Furthermore, the court ruled, "Derogating B by mixing her name with the name of an adult device and repeatedly saying it is an expression that sexually humiliates and insults her," and concluded, "This is school violence that can reasonably cause sexual distress or shame."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
