Minor Girl Allegedly Sexually Assaulted by Priest During Religious Ritual in Vadodara; Victim Secretly Records Video, Accused Arrested
Vadodara: Minor sexually assaulted under guise of religious ritual Victim showed courage, took friend’s help, set up mobile to capture crime on video; priest arrested
In Vadodara, a minor’s parents had called a priest home to conduct a religious ritual, hoping it would calm her temper and correct her behavior. The priest, Narendra Bhatt, took her to a separate room on the pretext of the ritual and sexually assaulted her. Frightened after the first incident, the girl gathered courage the second time and, with a friend’s help, set up a mobile camera and captured the entire act on video.
Armed with this strong evidence, she approached the police, who immediately registered a case against the accused priest under POCSO and arrested him. Police have appealed to parents to maintain communication with their children and to encourage daughters to speak up against injustice.
Parents themselves had asked the priest to come home and perform the ritual
DCP Zone-2 Manjita Vanzara said the victim came to the police station with her friend and told police she had been assaulted. An investigation was launched immediately, and the case was registered under sections of the POCSO Act. The preliminary investigation found that the girl would often get angry and irritable. Her parents believed that having a priest perform a ritual would calm her temper and resolve her behavioral issues. With this in mind, they had asked the priest to come home to conduct the ritual.
Victim was terrified after the priest assaulted her the first time
According to the victim, the priest had come to her house twice. The first time he came and committed the assault, she was terrified. He threatened her, making her believe that if she told her parents, they would blame and hit her instead. But the second time, she took her friend’s help. Somehow they managed to set up a mobile camera and capture the entire incident on video. She then went to the police with her friend’s support, and the case was registered and the accused arrested immediately.
A major lesson for both parents and daughters
She further said this case is a major lesson for both parents and daughters. Parents, especially those with teenage children, should maintain healthy communication with them. Children should be able to speak up without hesitation.
In this case too, the daughter initially hesitated to tell her parents, which is why she had to seek her friend’s help. If parents listen to their children, such incidents either wouldn’t happen, or would be stopped right at the start.
The daughter resisted and gathered evidence
She added that the priest is associated with a small temple. The girl’s father knew him indirectly, through other contacts, not directly. The father believed that since the priest had helped many other people, he would be able to calm his daughter’s temper and correct her flaws. Due to this superstition and blind faith, they kept calling the priest home, and each time he would take the girl to a separate room. But the daughter resisted and gathered evidence against him.