MARDOL: The Goa police are refusing to challenge the grant of anticipatory bail of the molestation accused teacher, Vishwas Prabhudesai on the purported ground that the Sessions court order was “watertight”, as per legal advice they received, and it will be impossible to overturn the order granting him bail.
The police registered an offence against PE teacher Vishwas Prabudesai (53) under Section 354 of IPC, Section 8(2) of the Goa Children’s Act and Section 8, 12 of the POCSO Act.
Yes, this is the explanation given by the Mardol police to O Heraldo when confronted with two questions. First is, why did the police not challenge the lower court order granting bail to the molester accused teacher, especially since his purported victim and her sister cannot go to school and are living in fear? Second is, why didn’t the police summon Prabhudesai after initial round of questioning?
The Police Inspector Satish Gaude said, “We opposed the bail but the order of the Sessions Court has left little ground for us to appeal.”
This is a strange case of the police, ie the government not finding any ground to even try and overturn a lower court’s bail order against a person, who is facing serious charges under the Goa Children’s Act and POCSO Act. The incident of molestation took place on March 25 and the complaint was registered in August-end. The victim girl had reported to her school teacher and the headmaster.
Since August, the PE teacher is roaming freely, armed with the court order. He was called for questioning just once. According to the Mardol police, while the accused is out on bail, they have completed the initial recording of statements from the accused as well as from the school. Mardol police have informed that they may soon issue notice to the molestation accused.
This attitude goes entirely against the public sentiment of the Madkai locals, who had, on September 4 marched to the Mardol police station demanding immediate action against the PE teacher for allegedly molesting a girl and also against the Madkai-based school management.
“The school management must be punished if it has done wrong. We will not remain silent till justice is done with the victims. We demanded that a thorough inquiry to find out who else is involved in the crime,” said Rajesh Naik, a prominent villager.
Moreover, the Directorate of Education is yet to inform what action has been taken against the school management, and whether any inquiry has been conducted on why the management flouted the law, by not bringing the complaint of the victim to the authorities immediately, but waiting for four months.
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Police Inspector Satish Gaude said, “We opposed the bail but the order of the Sessions Court has left little ground for us to appeal.” This is a strange case of the police, that is the government not finding any ground to even try and overturn a lower court’s bail order against a person, who is facing serious charges under the Goa Children’s Act and POCSO Act