INNOCENCE BETRAYED

Instead of suspending the teacher alleged to have molested a 12-year-old girl, the Vidya Prabodhini management has been harassing the agonized parents. Shockingly, points out RAJAN NARAYAN, in a betrayal of trust, the school revealed the name of the victim in its press note. Likewise Don Bosco School in Panjim has been guilty of failing to protect its students from paedophiles.

YOU BELONG TO THE Sangh Parivar, you can get away with anything whether it is vandalisation of civic property or even paedophilia. As the on going controversy over the alleged molestation of an eighth standard girl by a teacher of the Vidya Prabodhini-run L D Samant Memorial School dramatises. Indeed the manner in which the Parrikar government and the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak (RSS) -run institution have responded to the alleged case of paedophilia in the school exposes the hypocrisy and the insensitivity of the Sangh Parivar.

The Principal of the school, Subhash Velingkar, who is also the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Chief in Goa, claims that the teachers and the staff of the school are deeply conscious of their responsibility to society and are especially concerned over the protection of the girl child. Yet when a responsible parent went to the school to confront the senior teacher Damodar Joshi, who is alleged to have misbehaved with his 12-year old daughter studying in the eighth standard, the staff and the teachers of the school manhandled him. Moreover when the victim's parents went to the police station to lodge a complaint their car was smashed allegedly by RSS goons who followed him there.

Cover story . . . (Goan Observer, August 14th - 20th).

Contrary to the claims of the Principal and management of the school that it was they and not the victim’s father who summoned the police, our sources in the police insist that they received an SOS call from the victim’s father. In fact, the police claim that when they reached the school they found the gate locked and had to jump over the wall to gain entry. The Principal of the school, Subhash Veling-kar, claims that the understandably angry parent had brought three others with him who abused and assaulted the alleged molester.

Shockingly, the Vidya Prabodhini management, while claiming that there was a conspiracy to defame the school and the RSS, mentioned the name of the victim in the press note handed out at the press conference it held on Monday, 9 th August. While the print media displayed enough sensitivity and did not identify the victim, Goa Plus, in violation of all media ethics and Press Commission norms, named the victim and showed the location of the residence of the family.

Confirming his close ties with the RSS, the Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar faithfully echoed the claim of the management that the school was being maligned by those who were hostile to the RSS and the Sangh Parivar. In the same breath, the Chief Minister revealed that the father of the victim was also a staunch member of the RSS. According to our sources, the father of the victim is closely related to Manohar Parrikar. We understand that the girl’s mother is related to a cousin of Manohar Parrikar.

The charge of molestation against the L D Samant Memorial School teacher and the Don Bosco molestation episode came soon after the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, in a press conference, insisted that acts of paedophilia were alien to the Goan culture. The Chief Minister was responding to the Tehelka exposé. That “the government has not been able to understand the issue of paedophilia properly because our society cannot imagine such adult-child realtionships“. But paedo-philes come in all shapes and sizes and, on the surface, seem to be caring, concerned and perfectly respectable citizens .

Why would a staunch swayamsevak want to defame the school run by an organisation that he is alleged to be affiliated to? Parents are very concerned about the reputation of their daughters. In the overwhelming majority of cases they are inclined to suppress any incident such as the molestation of their daughter out of the fear that it would cast a stigma on the daughter and affect her marriage prospects. The provocation must have been very grave indeed for a father to publicly make the allegation that a senior teacher of the school had attempted to molest his daughter. Presumably the father of the victim was concerned that other children studying in the school should not be subject to the kind of trauma his daughter had to endure.

IN THE NEWS: The school where the alleged molestation took place.

Instead of showing concern and sympathy for the anguished parent the school authorities are not only trying to protect the teacher but even more shockingly, attempting to discredit the parents. The school authorities are now claiming that the parent’s concocted the molestation story because the management had sacked the mother of the victim two years ago when she was employed as a teacher in the primary section of the school. Significantly the school management has come up with this new alibi only after the police reluctantly filed a case against the alleged paedophile.

The incident of paedophilia is alleged to have happened on Friday when the exams were going on. In the complaint, the mother of the victim has stated that the senior teacher Damodar Joshi behave in an indecent and improper manner with her 12-year-old daughter in the examination hall. The incident traumatised the bright young girl so much that she could not do justice do the paper. Goan Observer learns that the teacher is reported to have admitted to his behaviour. The police recorded the statement of both the accused teacher and the victim child. The police also reportedly plan to record the statements of 18 other children who were in the same classroom as the victim when the incident occurred.

The chronology of events reinforces the belief that both the school authorities and the police, under pressure from the political establishment attempted to hush up the case. The parents of the victim went to the school on Saturday along with three others to confront the teacher. The Principal summoned the teacher. It was then that the incident of assault on the parent is reported to have taken place. The Principal claims that the father, Prasad Kamat got abusive and those who had accompanied him assaulted the accused teacher Joshi. On the same day the victim’s father filed a written police at the Porvorim police station. The Porvorim police which has been under tremendous from the Chief Minister and other Sangh Parivar heavy weights registered the complaint only on Sunday.

ARE YOU LISTENING?: The placard ays it all.

In the normal course, in cases of molestation, the police are prompt in arresting the accused. In the case of the girl who was molested by the senior teacher of the L K Samant Memorial School the accused was arrested only on Monday, 72 hours after the incident and two days after the complaint was filed. Since section 354 of the IPC which refers to molestation is incredibly enough a bailable offence, the alleged paedophile was promptly let off on bail. If the Children’s Act, which was passed over six months ago had been put in place, bail would not have been granted to the alleged paedophile. The Children’s Act, which was the brainchild of the former Secretary of Women and Child Development Rina Ray, has been kept in cold storage by the Chief Minister. The most important provision in the Act is that in molestation cases the onus of proving innocence would rest on the accused.

The Vidya Prabodhini Society headed by Subhash Velingkar has always boasted about its commitment to upholding the highest values. In fact value education is a compulsory part of the school curriculum. But the school which claims to be so concerned about the prestige and the reputation of the girl child did not suspend the accused teacher Joshi promptly as it should have done. In fact even at the time of writing the school management had not suspended the teacher but merely asked the teacher to go on long leave. The school has been consistently maintaining that Joshi is a senior teacher with over 15 years of experience and that there has been no complaint against him. This is contrary to the claims of students studying in the school and the victim who claim that Joshi has the reputation of continuously harassing the students and the victim in particular. Incidentally, the alleged molester/paedophile also doubles up as the bhatji (priest) for the entire neighbouring housing board colony.

In a press conference, the Principal of the higher secondary section of the Vidya Prabodani, Subhash Veling-kar and the secretary of the society which runs the school, Datta Naik, have claimed that they have written to the Director of Education for permission to appoint an enquiry officer to probe into the incident. Sources in the Department of Education however told the GO that there was no question of the Department taking any action as it was a private, aided institution. Sources in the education department pointed out that it was for the school management to hold the enquiry and take appropriate action.

Contrast the response of the Vidya Prabodhini to the allegation of molestation to that of the Bhatikar School in Margao. Parents of a student alleged that a laboratory assistant in the school had harassed one of the students. The school management promptly suspended the lab assistant and conducted an enquiry. When the enquiry established the guilt of the laboratory assistant, the school promptly terminated his services. Even when the school was asked to reinstate the employee under political pressure, it refused and the case is now pending before the Administrative Tribunal.

What is at issue is not the guilt or the innocence of the Vidya Prabodhini teacher Joshi. What is a matter of deep concern to all parents and children and indeed every citizen of Goa is the attitude of the school. An allegation of molestation of a girl child which is equivalent to an act of paedophilia is a very serious matter. Any school with any concern for its reputation let alone a school run by the Vidya Prabodhini which claims to uphold very high moral values would have very promptly suspended the teacher and initiated an independent enquiry into the incident. The very fact that Vidya parbodaini has been adamant in refusing to suspend the teacher would suggest that the school is engaged in a massive cover-up. The act of the school attempting to discredit the parents of the victim particularly the mother and attributing the allegation to revenge by the sacked mother is even more contemptible. The issue is not whether the school had the right to sack the mother of the victim from her job as a primary teacher in the school but the far more serious charge of a senior teacher abusing his position of trust to allegedly commit an act of paedophilia. Even more disturbing is the Chief Minister’s public statements claiming that the media was blowing the incident out of proportion to defame the RSS and the Sangh Parivar.

But we are not really surprised at the reaction of the Chief Minister, the Police and the Education Department. Because it has been clear for sometime now that in Parrikar Raj those owing allegiance to the Sangh Parivar can get away with any thing and are beyond the reach of the law. As dramatised by the fact that the then Commissioner of the Corporation of the City of Panjim was pressurised to refrain from filing a case against the Sangh Parivar vandals who damaged street names in Fontainhas. Though a private complaint has been filed and the names of those who ran amuck destroying both public and private property in Fontainhas has been published in the local newspapers no arrests have been made.

Schools are like a second home to children. Parents have implicit faith and trust that school managements will take every precaution to ensure the safety and the security of the child in the school premises. The incidents at the Vidya Prabhodini school last week and the more recent case of paedophilia in the Don Bosco School in Panjim (see box) raises questions over how safe our children are in the schools that they are enrolled in. The incidents of molestation and paedophilia that have surfaced during the last week are by no means exceptions. Many such incidents have happened in the past. But neither the Education Department nor the schools themselves seem to have addressed themselves to the problems of how to protect children against paedo-philes.

WHY, WHY ME?: Cries of little abused childern that a paedophile refuse to hear.

In the case of the Vidya Prabodhini itself though there were strong allegations that the paper leaks of the SSC originated in the L D Samant Memorial school and that the students of the school were the main beneficiaries no action was taken. On the contrary, the Chief Minister insisted, both in the assembly and outside, the teachers of the Vidya Prabodhini school were the ones who assisted the police in cracking the case. It will also be recalled that it was the VHP goons led by Subhash Velingkar who blackened the face of the former Chairman of the Higher Secondary board Raghuvir Vernekar when he refused to succumb to their blackmail.

The new Director General of Police, Amod Kant, is reported to be very sensitive to crimes against children. Kant was closely associated with an NGO in Delhi involved in the rehabilitation of street children. It is our hope that the DG, with his reputation for being child-friendly and child-sensitive, will resist all political pressures and ensure that the allegations of paedophilia will be thoroughly investigated and ensure that those who engage in such unspeakable acts will get their due desserts.

(With inputs from Jonquil Sudhir)

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