Attack on MSU dean: Court acquits three after 23 years

ORDER IN ABSENTIA

Attack on MSU dean: Court acquits three after 23 years

Complainant, Defendants Didn’t Turn Up For Trial

Jay.Pachchigar@timesgroup.com

Vadodara:26.10.2021

More than two decades after the then dean of MS University’s science faculty was allegedly attacked by three BSc students, the court acquitted the three accused of all the charges.

The dean in his police complaint had claimed that he was attacked after he refused to pass one of the three students who had failed an examination.

A botched up investigation or failure on part of police in gathering evidence wasn’t the reason for the acquittal though. Interestingly, the then dean Bonipailo Beekepailo Christian, who had lodged the case at Sayajigunj police station, and the three students Lakulish alias Lalo Purohit, Vanrajsinh Raj and Vishal Parikh did not appear during the trial.

Only one eye-witness, who was a clerk in the faculty, turned up for his testimony, but he too could not remember the names of the students who had attacked the dean.

As per the details of complaint registered by Christian, on August 20 in 1998 when Christian was present in his office, Parikh, Raj and Purohit stormed into his office and asked Christian to pass Parikh in an examination which he had failed.

When Christian said that he cannot pass Parikh illegally, the trio abused him and attacked him with a chair.

As he moved aside, Christian did not suffer any injuries. Later, Christian lodged an offence of trespassing, assault and insult at Sayajigunj police station against the trio.

When the case came up for trial after the police filed chargesheet, neither of the accused remained present despite summons being issued. The court then decided to continue the trial in their absence. During the trial, the testimony of just one eye-witness Kirit Patel was recorded.

Patel stated that Christian had left Gujarat to settle at his native place long ago. While one witness, who was a senior clerk, passed away and another witness had since changed his home and his new address was not available.

Patel said that the alleged incident did take place inside the dean’s office and some students had abused him and also he had fallen off his chair. However, he failed to recognize any of the students involved in the attack or recollect their names.

The court of additional chief judicial magistrate J A Baxi considered Patel’s statement and also noted that no concrete evidence was presented against the accused to prove them guilty.

The court passed the order of their acquittal in their absence.

The dean was attacked after he refused to pass one of the students