A special court, on Tuesday, issued a bailable warrant against an investigating officer for not appearing before it for deposition in a case in which a priest Johnson Lawrence is accused of sodomizing a teenage boy of his parish.
Special judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Rekha N Pandhare was displeased, as he was to be examined at 11am on Tuesday. The court noted that from 11am to 1pm, no information about the witnesses was given to the court and no one was present from Shivaji Nagar police station, where the case is registered, till personally called by the court.
It directed that the senior police inspector of Shivaji Nagar police station be present on the next day personally with the witnesses. It then issued a bailable warrant of Rs 1,000 on the investigating officer in the case who is now attached with Pant Nagar police station.
Advocate Charmaine Bocarro, appearing for the complainant, said that the officer had appeared on the last date and that it seemed to be a case of miscommunication between the prosecution and the police.
Offences had been registered in December 2015 against the priest for unnatural sexual intercourse under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the POCSO for sexual assault on a 13-year-old boy.
In June, last year, the special court had rejected the bail plea of the priest. He had claimed bail then on the grounds that he is diabetic and prone to infection during the pandemic. The court had noted that there are serious offences against Lawrence and that he is a father of the church. During his tenure as father, he had unnatural sex with the victim.
