"Does the judiciary not care about a little girl who has been through trauma," asked the distressed parent of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl from Bengaluru.
The girl's parents, along with a group of other parents, had been battling against a Bengaluru play school, whose supervisor had allegedly sexually harassed their kids.
But, in a major setback for the parents, the Karnataka High Court ordered a stay on police investigation for five weeks.
The stay comes more than two months after the incident, where the minor was allegedly sexually assaulted by the supervisor of the playschool, Manjunath. The parents of the girl had filed an FIR with the HAL Police Station on 17 February against Manjunath, along with a few members of the school’s management.
Major Roadblock for the Parents
On 22 February, seven more FIR’s were filed against Manjunath and school officials.
Manjunath was arrested and booked under POCSO Act. The arrested included Kingston D’Souza, national academic head of the chain of preschools; Veena Ashok, director of the playschool franchise in Bellandur where the incident was reported; and Niti, a staff member.
On 18 April, Veena Ashok had moved the Karnataka High Court, seeking a stay on the investigation into the case. The stay was granted on 27 April.
Veena Ashok, the daughter of BJP MLC Lakshminarayan, had vehemently denied all allegations.
In March 2017, her dad had questioned the ruling party on what mechanisms exist to protect playschools from false complaints filed against them by parents. He also suggested that competitors could be encouraging such actions to ruin a school’s reputation.
For the parents who have had to face many roadblocks from the time they decided to file the complaint, the stay has come as a huge disappointment.
We did not even know about the stay order until after it was issued. We heard about it through a friend. We did not even expect such a thing to happenOne of the parents of the girl
The police were nearly done with the investigation and were said to have filed the chargesheet against the prime accused Manjunath, Veena Ashok, Kingston D’souza and a senior official named Praveena, when the case hit this major roadblock.
“We would have submitted the chargesheet by 8 May. The stay order is for five weeks, after that, we will file an appeal with the Karnataka High Court to vacate the stay order, and only then can we file the chargesheet or investigate the case further,” said Hal Police Inspector, Sadiq Pasha.
The police were waiting for forensic evidence and a few digital evidence procured from the play school.
“The stay order is only against investigating Veena Ashok. We will be free to file the chargesheet against the other accused in the case. The chargesheet is being scrutinised by the legal team. We will definitely get the stay vacated,” an investigating officer said.
Parents Angry, But Not Ready to Give Up Yet
The parents of the child were shocked, angry and disappointed with the recent turn of events.
“It is not even in our hands anymore. The police have to get the stay vacated. Only then can the case proceed. When we had gone to file the complaint, the police had told us that they too had daughters and that the chargesheet would be filed as soon as possible. If the police were speaking even a grain of truth, they should be able to help us,” the girl’s parent said.
While the case might look hopeless at the moment, the parents of the girl are not ready to give up yet.
“Veena Ashok is the daughter of MLC Lakshminarayan (BJP). The judge who granted the stay has happily retired now. If you have money and power, anything is possible in this country. Even getting justice. What happened to a little girl does not matter anymore. I don’t know what is the point of fighting this case. We hoped that justice would be served. Now I guess I should be happy that my daughter is safe. I have not yet lost hope,” said the dejected parent.
(This article has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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