It took a High Court Judge to hear the cries of a 3-year-old
Much has been said about the founder Trustee of Tridha School in Mumbai, Patrick Brillant, accused of molesting two 3-year old students of the school. However, it fell on deaf ears: the school that is accountable to the children that study there chose to stand for the founder Trustee, ousted both the molested three-year olds, and re-instated Patrick Brillant with passionate defensive fervour and a dismissive “it’s time to move on” message to the parents, blatantly disregarding the POCSO Act that puts the onus on the accused to prove themselves innocent.
The police and the political system ignored the pleas of the aggrieved parents and the testimony of the children, delayed the investigation, and subsequently the charge-sheet. To make it worse, the Sessions Court hurriedly granted bail to Patrick Brillant in a dubious judgement. Spurred on by this travesty of justice, Patrick Brillant sent an email to an aggrieved parent comparing himself to Gandhi and Mandela.
This is yet another confirmation of our crumbling civil society. The molested children, their parents, and their far and few supporters, have now become the ‘problem’ — accused of spreading negative energy and disturbing the peace in the school, to meet their ulterior motives. Brush it under the carpet and ignore the matter would have been the norm of our culture — not because it does not hurt and distress — but because it is extremely difficult to fight the nexus of well-placed perpetrators of crime backed by politicians and cops.
While this is fairly commonplace in our society today, the worst cut of all is the apathy of a majority of parents in the school, including the class to which the two children belonged. Their motto seems to be “not my child, not my problem”. The fight against apathy is not for the weak hearted, and certainly not a battle that apathetic parent citizens care to fight.
After a tortuous 11-month long melee, the parents of the three-year-old girl, along with a handful of strangers turned supporters, found a ray of hope. Justice Revati Mohite Dere of the Bombay High Court, cancelled the bail order granted to Patrick Brillant by the Sessions Court. She also refused a stay on the bail cancellation, stating “Having come to the conclusion that the impugned order is perverse, unsustainable and contrary to the evidence on record, the request for staying the order is rejected”. Some justice was done. But, it took a High Court judge to hear the cries of the three-year olds!
During the entire fracas, the State’s Education Department has been a silent spectator despite repeated pleas to intervene. Is it not their duty to take charge of a matter so messed up by the authorities? Or is there nexus here also? Prima facie, the State Education Minister should have been aware of the accusation of a heinous crime going-on in the school considering the fact that his own daughter is a student there. One can only wonder if the ties with the school are more valuable than the lives of the two children who have been so monstrously violated. Would the police and the politicians take a similar stance if their own children had been involved? Would they turn a blind eye to the release of an accused on bail and hamper the investigation despite the fact that, as stated by the High Court, ‘the allegations were serious in nature and the investigation was in progress.”
Both children were three years old at the time of the incident and the psychiatrist clearly states that there is “evidence of child sexual abuse” while medical evidence suggests that sexual assault cannot be ruled out. In her order, Justice Revati Mohite Dere states, “the facts reveal that prima facie there is overwhelming incriminating evidence against the respondent” and “the possibility of the witnesses being able to depose without fear or freely and truthfully, in the facts of this case is bleak”.
So, who is the real culprit here — who is the perpetrator of this crime? Is it only the accused Patrick Brillant? Has this crime not been committed by the school management (Trustees, Principal and some of the teachers of Tridha) and abetted by police, politicians and the parents who are also leading fund-raising campaigns to build a large corpus for Patrick Brillant’s legal expenses — through explicit support, implicit backing, and even by those who choose to be silent?
God forbid this terror strikes close to home.
God forbid you are not as strong as the mother of this 3-year old is.
God forbid you are not rich, politically connected and deviously inter-linked with law enforcement.
God forbid you are surrounded by unconcerned, selfish and apathetic people.
God forbid you don’t have a fair and honest judge.
God forbid this ever happens to you.