Mumbai: Six months after the parents of a kindergarten student at Tridha International School in Andheri (East) complained of sexual assault by a woman teacher and the founder-trustee, the police on Tuesday arrested the latter in connection with the case.
On May 7 this year, the parents of the three-year-old girl had approached MIDC police station alleging the accused had sexually abused the victim in the office of the founder-trustee, Patrick Brillant, in December last year. Mr. Brillant, a French national, was in Europe at the time, and returned a month later. According to police sources, he was picked up for inquiries on Monday night and was subsequently placed under arrest.
DCP (Zone X) N.D. Reddy said, “We picked up the accused late on Monday night. He was questioned at length, after which we placed him under arrest early on Tuesday.”
Mr. Brillant was produced in the sessions court in Dindoshi on Tuesday, which remanded him in police custody till November 11.
The police will be questioning him in connection with the allegations, as well as the role of the teacher. The victim has told her parents that both accused sexually assaulted her in Mr. Brillant’s cabin. The police will also be finding out if other students have been similarly exploited.
Deeply affected: mother
The victim’s mother, in her statement to the police, said the sexual abuse deeply affected her daughter, and her behaviour had changed radically. After several months of asking her the reason for her increasing aloofness, the victim told her parents about the sexual exploitation. The parents took her to a doctor, and a medical examination detected injuries to her private parts, after which the parents approached the police to file an FIR.
When Mr. Brillant returned in the last week of June, the police quizzed him but didn’t make an arrest. The victim's parents filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court, alleging the police were dragging their feet. On November 1, the HC directed the police to reinvestigate the case, with a senior officer heading the probe. ACP (Meghwadi division) Milind Khetle was subsequently appointed as the investigating officer on November 2.
Sources said a separate inquiry would also be conducted to find out why the police had not arrested Mr. Brillant, and if there are grounds to take departmental action against the team that previously investigated the case. “In a case registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), the burden of proving innocence is on the accused, which Mr. Brillant failed to do. Details of the previous investigation are being looked into,” a senior Mumbai Police officer said.
Published - November 07, 2017 11:57 pm IST
