TEAM HERALD
PONDA: The sexual assault on the 4-year-old student outside the nursery school has taken an unusual turn, with the school manager and parents insisting that the accused arrested in the case is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the crime.
The overwhelming support towards the arrested school supervisor, Vinod Mascarenhas, was reflected at a special PTA meeting of the school on Friday, which was attended by a large number of parents.
Addressing the meeting, the school manager sought to expose various inconsistencies in the statements of the mother and her daughter, which had led Ponda police to arrest Mascarenhas on Wednesday.
The mother had claimed that her child had been sexually assaulted near the school toilet on Tuesday morning, following a medical report that confirmed that there had some abrasions in the child’s genital area.
Police later detained two persons in the connection and arrested one of them after the victim identified the accused.
“Don’t get carried away by newspapers reports, which are basically statements released by the police. We all know Vinod and his behaviour. There is no need to even wonder if Vinod could have committed the crime or no. I know that Vinod is innocent and I will stand by him,” said the school manager, while addressing hundreds of parents gathered for the meet organised by the school management.
Parents nodded in unison when the school manager asked them if they believed that Vinod is innocent.
“Don’t say yes because I am asking you to say so. Is it possible to believe that Vinod had sexually assaulted the student? I know you will all agree that police investigations have been incorrect,” he added.
The school manager also ruled out the possibility that the incident had taken place within the school campus.
“Some newspaper reports claim that the sexual assault had taken place near the toilet, while other reports claim that the incident was in the toilet. There is no question of such incident being reported as there are two attendants at the toilet. If the girl was sexually assaulted in or around the toilet, she would have cried or raised an alarm in school itself. There is a possibility that abrasions on the girl’s genital area could have occurred at her own house,” said the school manager.
He also informed the gathering that the innocent child had been inconsistent in identifying the accused.
“When the police had shown her photos of two accused who had been detained, the girl had reportedly identified both of them as the accused and the police eventually arrested one of them,” the manager told the parents.
The school manager has, however, requested the parents to avoid staging any protest demonstration in support of the arrested supervisor. “Let the law take its own course and such accusations won’t mar our respect for Vinod. Let us stand by him”, informed the school manager.
