Mumbai News: SC/ST Court Acquits 4 Santacruz School Staff In 11-Year-Old Caste Discrimination Case

Mumbai: The special SC/ST court recently acquitted four employees, including the former principal and ex-supervisor, of a Santacruz school almost 11 years after they were booked on the complaint of a teacher for caste discrimination.

On February 18, 2014, Annie Martin Fernandes, 62, Champa Bishwanath Mazumdar, 59, Prasad Vishwanath Nilvarna, 56 and Chandrakant Dattu Mhatre, were booked on the complaint of a teacher working at St Lawrence High School, Santacruz West.

Fernandes was the principal, Mazumdar supervisor, while the other two – Nilvarna and Mhatre – were teachers.The complainant claimed that the school at that time had 30 teachers and 15 of them belonged to scheduled caste.

The complainant claimed that Fernandes and Mazumdar time and again insulted her over her caste in front of other staff and teachers and even before the students. She claimed that when she raised the issue before the school trustee, he did not pay heed.

The complainant further alleged that Nilvarna touched her inappropriately and that when she confronted, he hurled casteist slurs. Mhatre also abused and humiliated in the same way, she added.

The school, however, claimed that it had issued heaps of memos to her for “inconsiderable and unjustifiable service conduct”. Moreover, she was also terminated, the defence had pointed out, arguing that her complaint was simply a counter to the action against her.

After going through evidence, the court found several “loopholes in the probe” and observed that the material brought on record by the prosecution was not sufficient enough to hold the four guilty.