Six teachers get bail in rape case : Pune

The court of additional sessions judge Vinay G Joshi on Friday granted bail to six teachers of a school in Narayangaon, around 90 km from here, for allegedly shielding the school's 52-year-old peon arrested for raping three physically challenged girls last month.

The teachers - Ravindra Jagtap, Shankar Bhalerao, Dilip Gosavi, Rangnath Garje, Santosh Kadve and Hiralal Babel - were released on bail on furnishing personal bond of Rs 30,000 with one or two sureties of the like amount.

The teachers were asked to give attendance at Narayangaon police station every Sunday between 10 am and noon till a charge-sheet in the case was filed. They were also warned not to tamper with the prosecution's evidence.

Joshi, in his order, said, "There is no necessity to keep the teachers behind the bars as they were arrested by the police and faced custodial interrogation."

The court said that the main allegation of penetrative sexual assault was against the peon, Mahadeo Borhade, under section 3 of the Protection to Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, while the role played by the teachers in the crime was very limited. 

Though the prosecution opposed the bail pleas saying that the victims may not give evidence against them at the time of trial due to fear, Joshi was of the view that the liberty of the applicants (teachers) cannot be curtailed on hypothetical fear. The court did not find the prosecution's arguments impressive when it pointed out that a series of rape incidents had created a public uproar.


The prosecution had expressed fear that the victims' relatives may take revenge from the teachers by assaulting them if they were released on bail. However, Joshi's order said, "The courts should not twist judicial dictum on the basis of public opinion as it weighs very less."


"It is the job of the police to protect individual liberty and prevent anybody from causing hurt to any citizen, including the accused. There is no potential ground to reject the bail pleas," the court said.

As per the prosecution's case, Borhade had raped a 16-year-old girl on the school premises on February 5 this year. When the victim complained to the school authorities about the incident, she was taken to a hospital for medical check-up. However, the police was not given information about the incident even though the headmaster, Vasant Balwant Gite, had taken down something in writing from the victim, the prosecution said.


The court said that there are no complaints of sexual assault or sexual harassment against the teachers, while the police report said that they had taken the victim either to her residence or to the hospital for medical check-up.


Advocate Milind Pawar, counsel for the teachers, told the court that his clients have not played a direct role in the crime and there names did not figure in the FIR. Pawar refuted the allegations that the teachers shielded Borhade and submitted that his clients were not aware of the provisions of the new law. He pleaded to release them on bail as they were in judicial custody at the Yerawada central jail since the last three weeks.

Source : T.O.I , 4th May 2013