Pune: The extra periods court docket of Pune has discharged 79-year-old Bishop Emeritus Thomas Dabre of the Pune Diocese, who’s a co-accused in a 2018 case pertaining to the sexual abuse of a minor.
A First Data Report (FIR) was registered on the Hadapsar police station in 2018 and later transferred to Kondhwa police station, stating that Father Vincent Pereira allegedly sexually abused a 15-year-old boy whereas two different distinguished members of the church – Bishop Dabre and Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay – allegedly didn’t act in opposition to the principle suspect regardless of complaints from the survivor’s relations.
Dabre moved a discharge utility underneath Part 227 (discharge of an accused particular person in a periods trial) of the Code of Legal Process (CrPC), contending that the allegations had been “baseless and imprecise” and that he was “falsely implicated,” regardless of no proof in opposition to him underneath Sections 21(1) and 21(2) of the Safety of Youngsters from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which deal with the failure to report or document circumstances of sexual offences in opposition to kids.
Opposing the plea, the assistant public prosecutor argued that there was prima facie proof of Dabre’s “energetic participation within the crime,” and stated that the case was robust sufficient for conviction.
The court docket, nevertheless, disagreed. “There isn’t any prima facie proof in opposition to the accused to border fees underneath Sections 21(1) and 21(2) of the POCSO Act,” noticed further periods choose Aniruddha Gandhi within the order.
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The order, which was handed on August 8 and uploaded on the court docket’s web site on Saturday, stated that the FIR didn’t allege Dabre restrained the household from submitting a criticism. “Quite the opposite, the survivor’s father admitted that Dabre had informed him to strategy the police. Regardless of information of the incident in February 2018, the criticism was filed solely on September 14, 2018, a delay of six months,” the order stated.
The court docket additional recorded that the survivor’s father had written to Dabre on February 16, 2018, in search of Pereira’s switch. Dabre subsequently convened a gathering the place head constable Vikas Tengire of the Wanawadi police station was current. The constable reportedly suggested that solely the sufferer or guardian may file a police criticism.
Moreover, a letter dated March 20, 2018, issued on Dabre’s directions, confirmed that Father Roque Inexperienced had knowledgeable the Wanawadi police about Pereira’s alleged misconduct and the motion taken in opposition to him. “This exhibits that the accused (Dabre) had reported the incident to the police,” the court docket noticed.
“The elements of Part 21 of the POCSO Act will not be fulfilled. Quite the opposite, there’s materials to point out that the applicant accused complied with the provisions of the legislation. For the lapses on the a part of the informant and the police, the accused can’t be held accountable,” the order added.
