Incidentally, Gaikwad was found in possession of three other children from OFH. They have been handed over to the Kolhapur CWC. Police are also trying to ascertain whether he did smuggle out any other children in the past. A Kolhapur police team will soon take him to Goa to establish the sequence of events since July 2011.
After dna front-paged the disturbing story of how minor kids (between 9-14) from Kolhapur were illegally taken across the state border and kept with a foreigner in Goa, local police swung into action registering an FIR and arresting Emmanuel Gaikwad who 'trafficked' the children to Goa in July 2011.
"Based on dna's report, the Kolhapur district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairperson Priya Chorage filed a suo motu complaint, acting on which we have registered an FIR and arrested Emmanuel Gaikwad," Kolhapur Deputy SP Ankit Goyal confirmed to dna, "The CWC chairman also specifically mentioned how even operations of Our Father's Home (OFH) in Kolhapur was illegal. The FIR invokes Juvenile Justice Act provisions based on that too."
Incidentally, Gaikwad was found in possession of three other children from OFH. They have been handed over to the Kolhapur CWC. Police are also trying to ascertain whether he did smuggle out any other children in the past. A Kolhapur police team will soon take him to Goa to establish the sequence of events since July 2011.
"We've made contact with our Goa counterparts and will be able to strengthen the case based on their inputs," informed Kolhapur SP Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma. "Now that we've made a beginning on the basis of the dna report we'll ensure swift and prompt follow-up," he said. The state Home ministry, Women and Child Welfare Department and the IG office are all in touch with Kolhapur police since Saturday morning over what they term "a very sensitive case".
Anti-trafficking activist Arun Pandey of Anyay Rahit Zindagi (ARZ), which first raised an alarm about the children, said, "Goa police should have informed Kolhapur police as soon as the children and UK national Timothy Geddes were picked up." While acknowledging the FIR and arrest of Gaikwad, he wondered why Geddes is still roaming free. "Even if paedophilia has still not been established clearly, why didn't Panjim police straight away make a case of kidnapping and/or trafficking? Instead, only such charges have been made out against Timothy which attract heavy fine," he pointed out. "Are Goa police trying to simply fine him and let him go?"
Dna investigations have shown that Geddes, a Winchester University graduate of 1981, was a music teacher at Glaitness School, Pickaquoy Road, Kirkwall, Orkney KW15 1RP, United Kingdom. He quit in 2012 (see picture at his farewell along with another colleague Ingrid Rendall), saying he was going to teach in Goa. He maintained a regular blog http://tgeddes.edublogs.org/ then and regaled his readers his "experiences" in Bambolim, Goa with newsletters. On Saturday too, repeated phone calls and texts to Geddes – who has posted some children's photographs on his facebook account – went unanswered. His use of pictures of the children, he was illegally in possession of, is in itself a criminal act, pointed out activists.
The embarrassment over the turn of events which brought media glare onto their inaction was palpable in the Goa police circles on Saturday. While investigating office Vikram Naik refused to talk, a senior official who confirmed about Kolhapur police contacting them admitted, "We've been fielding phone calls from Bombay and Delhi all day on the case." SP Crime and in-charge of Goa's Anti Human Trafficking Unit Kartik Kashyap said he was told of the matter only on Saturday. "My unit will look into all aspects of the case minutely to ensure justice is done," he said.
Yet, 18 kms on the outskirts of Kolhapur, parents of one of the children from Asurle village, Panhala expressed hopes that the FIR and arrest of Gaikwad would bring them closer to reuniting with
their son. "We hope he's brought back and kept in an institution in Kolhapur if needed for investigation. Then many of us parents who can't afford to travel all the way to Goa can at least visit them once a week," said the father who owns two buffaloes and sells milk for a living. The mother was too overwhelmed to speak. "I can't eat or sleep thinking of how my son must be," she wept with folded hands.
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