A senior partner at a prominent Mumbai-based law firm, booked under the POCSO Act for allegedly sexually abusing his minor daughter, is facing fresh controversy. The child’s mother has now alleged “systemic failure” and serious lapses in the investigation by authorities.
Fresh information has now surfaced in a case involving a senior partner at a law firm accused of sexually abusing his minor daughter.
The child’s mother a well-known author has written to the National Commission for Women (NCW) and senior police officials, alleging systemic failure and lack of action in how the investigation has been handled.
In a detailed complaint submitted on Monday, she claimed that her repeated efforts to get the police to intervene were turned down.
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Adding that the police registered an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) only after the NCW intervened, she said,
“I reached out to the NCW first and later approached NM Joshi Police Station, where the cops turned me away three consecutive times,”
The case came to light last November, after a school counsellor alerted her following concerns about the child’s behaviour in class.
The mother said it took time for her daughter to be able to identify who had taught her the acts, but “the moment I learnt, I escalated the matter”.
She alleged that the abuse began during the pandemic.
She said,
“It was just the start of the pandemic… I would sleep exclusively with my newborn, and the elder one would sleep with her father,”
She added,
“He started molesting my elder daughter during Covid. Today she is eight, and I learnt about it only after the school counsellor informed me.”
The woman further claimed that despite the gravity of the allegations, the accused was never arrested.
She said,
“He was never arrested by the police. Instead, he was given ample time to secure pre-arrest bail,”
Alleging that investigators also did not move quickly to preserve evidence, she added,
“No effort was made to seize his devices or examine potential video evidence, giving him time to destroy crucial material.”
She also alleged that she later discovered explicit material that she claims was recorded by her husband over several years.
She said,
“I recently got a pen drive in which there are hundreds of explicit videos and photos of my husband and his male and female friends performing group sex. Though I cannot clearly identify everyone, some of them are either his colleagues at the law firm or his childhood friends,”
“I have given the digital contents to the police, but the cops are doing nothing to investigate,”
She added, stating “there is a high possibility that some of them might have been exploited too”.
According to her, investigators also ignored an important witness.
She said,
“One of the women he tried to rape agreed to testify, but the cops never bothered to call her,”
The mother alleged additional procedural problems.,
“A highly questionable attempt to serve notice at 2 am, followed by a 14-hour delay, enabled him to secure anticipatory bail,” she said, adding that the chargesheet “reads more like a timeline than a genuine investigation omitting my daughter’s statement and the psychiatry report from Sir JJ Hospital… with the file now untraceable”.
Describing her experience, she stated,
“This is the first time I have filed a police complaint, and it has been one of the worst experiences of my life… The conduct of the investigating authorities reveals a clear pattern of inaction and procedural irregularity favouring the accused.”
Police officials have not issued a public response to the new claims.
Mumbai Mirror attempted to contact the accused, who works on internal investigations, white-collar crimes and cross border disputes, according to his law firm.
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However, he had not replied at the time the report went to press.
Investigating officer Vilas Rathod of NM Joshi Marg police station said,
“We received the case directly from the NCW and immediately registered an FIR under stringent provisions of the POCSO Act and the BNS. After registering the FIR, we served him notice, following which he filed an anticipatory bail application in court. The matter was heard around eight times in the sessions court, with each hearing lasting nearly three hours.”
On the allegation regarding missing medical documentation, he said,
“The complainant has referred to a psychiatry report from JJ Hospital. We have received the report recently and will be filing a supplementary chargesheet in the case very soon.”
Rathod also said the investigation is being closely supervised,
“This is a POCSO case and the court will seek detailed answers. My superiors are closely monitoring the investigation. I have presented the case files to the DCP and the additional CP before filing the chargesheet.”
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She accused the authorities of procedural lapses, highlighting delays in serving notice and alleged gaps in the chargesheet particularly the non-inclusion of the child’s statement and the psychiatry report from Sir JJ Hospital.
Police, however, rejected the allegations and insisted that there was no misconduct, saying the FIR was registered promptly after the case was referred by the NCW.
They further stated that the investigation is under close supervision by senior officers and that a supplementary chargesheet will be filed shortly after the medical report is received.
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