Priest booked for sexually abusing teen boy; bail granted

PUNE: A priest who worked at a prominent English medium school in Pune and was booked on September 30 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) for allegedly sexually abusing a minor, has been granted bail by a Pune court.

The Hadapsar Police booked Father Vincent Pereira for allegedly sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy at the latter’s home on December 4 last year. The FIR was later transferred to the Kondhwa Police.

According to the FIR, lodged by activist Maruti Bhapkar, Father Pereira sexually abused the boy while two other high-ranking officials of the church -- Thomas Dabre, the bishop of Pune diocese, and Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay -- allegedly did not act against the main suspect despite complaints from the survivor’s family members.

“The boy’s parents approached Bishop Thomas Dabre at Wanawdi seeking action against the priest. When no action was taken, the survivor’s family wrote to Cardinal Oswald Gracias in

Mumbai seeking action but he too did not take action which emboldened the Father Pereira,” it said.

HT has seen a copy of the FIR and the bail order. Cardinal Oswald Gracias and Bishop Dabre have refuted the allegations.

“Father Pereira is from Pune. I have no jurisdiction in Pune... Neither the survivor’s parents nor anyone else has approached me,” said Cardinal Gracias. Bishop Dabre’s counsel Sandeep Bali said his name has been “entered in the FIR by mischief”.

Additional sessions judge SP Ponkshe, in her order allowing anticipatory bail to Father Pereira on Friday, asked him to cooperate with investigators.

Advocate Milind Pawar, representing Father Pereira, said, “The accused is not on the rolls of the school anymore, he is a private person and has been granted interim protection by the court... A fake FIR was lodged without verifying facts... When the applicant has an FIR already lodged against him, why will he commit a second crime?” In 2018, Pereira was arrested for showing a pornographic video to a student.

Kondhwa police station in-charge Sardar Patil said, “Police have lodged a case under the POCSO Act. The main suspect has obtained interim bail and the other two suspects don’t have any direct role... They merely had not reported the crime to the police...”

THE PRIEST

WAS BOOKED ON CHARGES OF SEXUALLY ABUSING A 15-YEAR-OLD BOY IN SEPT THIS YEAR