PUNE: A Catholic priest (55) was arrested on Friday night for allegedly sexually assaulting a schoolboy (15) in front of the Pune railway station on November 21 last year.
Five others, including authorities of the governing body of the church and Catholic institutes, were booked on the charge of protecting him.
The police on Saturday produced the priest before a special court, which ordered his custodial remand till Sunday. A prominent Catholic human rights activist lodged a complaint in this connection.
"The priest was the principal of a school where the boy studied few years ago. He had sexually assaulted the boy after meeting him at the railway station before he (the boy) and his family could board a train to Kerala," assistant inspector Shilpa Lambe of the Bundgarden police said.
She said, "Two complaints related to alleged sexual assault were lodged against the priest under the Protection to Children from Sexual Offences Act with the Wanowrie police and the Kondhwa police in 2018 and 2022."
Lambe said, "The victim's parents had complained to the authorities of the governing body about the alleged acts committed by the priest, but they had failed to take action against him."
Criminal lawyer Milind Pawar, representing the priest, told TOI, "The complainants and the incident spots are different. My client cannot be prosecuted twice for the same crime."
Pawar said, "The Wanowrie police had arrested the priest in 2018, but he was later released on bail. He had obtained ad-interim anticipatory bail from the special court after the Kondhwa police had booked him for sexually assaulting the boy. The court on Friday heard the bail plea and reserved its order till November 28. Later, the Bundgarden police arrested him for a similar crime. He has been wrongly implicated in the case." One of the governing authority members said he had nothing to do with the case. The other authorities were not available for comments. Their lawyer was also not available for comments.