School officials who tried to save rape accused denied bail

The sessions court rejected anticipatory bail pleas of three officials of a school in Narayangaon, located 90 kms from Pune, for shielding a peon who was arrested for raping three physically challenged girls in April last year.Taking a strong stand against the school authorities, additional sessions judge Vinay G Joshi said, "The offences are shocking because the victims are vulnerable handicapped girls belonging to poor strata of the society. The school authorities are expected to take care and groom the students as they are supposed to be next to God, but everything ran anti-clock wise as the authorities after learning about the incident tried to hush up the matter," said Joshi while accepting the prosecution's submissions.The officials who had applied for the anticipatory bail are school vice-president Sriprakash Chandmal Bora, superintendent Sawleram Sitaram Pacharne and headmaster Vasant Balwant Gite.Earlier, the Narayangaon police had arrested the peon, Mahadeo Borhade, a resident of Ane village in Narayangaon. They had also arrested Gite in one of the three rape cases registered vide crime register number 99/2013 on April 16 and 17 respectively. The police had also arrested Ravindra Jagtap, Shankar Bhalerao. Dilip Gosavi, Rangnath Gajre, Satish Kadve and Hiralal Babel in the same case on April 16. The suspects are in judicial custody at the Yerawada central jail.Police have obtained production warrants from the Junnar court for arresting Borhade and Gite in two other rape casesregistered vide crime register numbers 94 and 104/2013. Bora and Pacharne have been booked in all the three cases. Police have launched a hunt to arrest them after investigations revealed that they had tried to shield Borhade by not informing the police.Fearing arrest, Bora and Pacharne moved the district and sessions court seeking anticipatory bail plea. Gite, who is in judicial custody, also applied for anticipatory bail plea expecting arrest in the two other cases. Gite also filed a regular bail plea in the case in which he was arrested.All the nine bails pleas were clubbed when they came up for a final hearing before the judge on April 30.The school officials were represented by lawyers Harshad Nimbalkar, Milind Pawar and S S Pathare. The defence lawyers told the court that the victims have not named the three school officials in their complaints. The defence lawyers also denied the charge that their clients had abetted Borhade.Additional public prosecutor Vijay Fargade argued that Bora was managing the school affairs while investigations have revealed that Gite, at Bora's behest, had taken some written statements from the victims.Fargade said the school officials had created a false record and passed a resolution to show that Borhade had sought voluntary retirement. They did this to hush up the matter, said Farhade, adding that custodial interrogation of the officials was essential.Additional sessions judge Vinay G Joshi observed: "The victims have stated that they have disclosed the incident and Gite has taken something in writing from them which was forwarded to Pacharne and obviously it was made known to Bora who was looking after the school. The officials' act of hastily passing a resolution of accepting Borhade's voluntary retirement speaks volumes."Joshi further said, "In serious crimes, free hand is to be accorded to police to investigate the matter which is having a vast magnitude and social impact. The officials are the persons who can throw light on various aspects and their custodial interrogation is required."However, Joshi granted regular bail to Gite in the case in which he was arrested. Gite was asked to furnish a personal bond of Rs 30,000 with one or two sureties of the like amount. He was directed to present himself at the Narayangaon police station on every Sunday between 10 am and 12 noon till a chargesheet was filed. He was warned not to tamper with the prosecutions evidence.