Will justice be served

Extraditing Varley

Will Justice Be Served? 

Herald Review September 21, 2014 

As India continues its efforts to extradite paedophile Raymond Varley, an online campaign has been started to push the British government to act. Herald Review also talks to activist lawyer Sheela Barse, who took up the Goa case 25 years ago and made sure the system worked to bring the network of paedophiles to jus- tice 


LISA ANN MONTEIRO 


A questionable ‘ dementia’ certificate produced by Raymond Varley, the paedophile at the centre of an extradition wrangle between a UK court and Indian authorities, weighed heavily with British judge Quentin Purdy. The Westminister Magistrates’ Court on May 8, 2014 dismissed the application filed by the Government of India to extradite him.

While India appeals and continues to push for extradition, activists and concerned citizens in India and the UK are not buying into Varley’s dementia claim.

UK citizen Vivien Baptiste has used Change. org the online platform for social change to petition the UK government to extradite Varley.

“ This man is using every trick to avoid extradition. His guilt is obvious. Justice for children all over the world,” she wrote on the website.

Her petition titled ‘ Allow extradition to India of paedophile Raymond Varley’ has received over 200 signatures from people in UK, India, New Zealand and the Gulf.

“ As a parent, grandparent and great grandparent, I feel all children should be protected, and as a frequent visitor to India, Goa, I know how innocent the children are and trust everyone,” Gladys Cattle, a signatory from the UK wrote.

“ It is the right of every child to grow up without abuse. Offenders must be held accountable,” Pooja Swaika wrote.

A signatory from Goa, Binoy Hoskote wrote, “ Does UK and its government encourage paedophiles? Why the hanky panky in extradition. Save face and act immediately.” Vivien Baptiste told this newspaper that she and her friends who love Goa and frequent the state, were disgusted to hear about this case and decided to do something about it.

“ I have seen paedophiles in Goa first hand many years ago and made the Goans aware of them but it was difficult to get them to realize how serious the issue is. The man in question now deserves justice Goan style.” She is confident the petition will get more support and says she will take the signatures to her local member of parliament.

Early evidence 
Back in the early 1990s after the police raided the notorious Freddy Peats orphanage, the material they uncovered was so deplorable that nobody was willing to believe that Peats with his snowy white beard and hair, who they considered a benevolent man, was capable of such atrocities.

It wasn’t only the locals but police and politicians also who defended him.

It was only when activist lawyer Sheela Barse, based in Mumbai, camped in Goa and worked tirelessly round the clock gathering evidence, that Peats was booked and later sentenced for life.

At the time the Peats case was unraveling in Goa, in 1991 Barse was in Delhi, ironically addressing a conference on child labour, as its keynote speaker. When she was told ministers in Goa were trying to suppress the case, she got in touch with a police official who told her the horrors they had uncovered in this case.

Paedophilia as a crime being relatively unknown at the time, the police were at a loss on how to handle it.

Barse decided she needed to be there herself. She got her Delhi- Mumbai ticket immediately changed to Delhi- Goa and was on the next plane to Goa with a small suitcase and little cash in hand.

The Goa Collector helped her find an inexpensive place to stay in Margao and she began her groundwork.

It was the most wretched time of her life, she recalls, and a very traumatizing experience having to sort out the photographs, speak to the victims and collect evidence.

At one press conference in Goa called by the IG police, she was accused of jet setting for the sake of publicity. “ One reporter got up and said ‘ we know her credibility’ and everyone walked out and the press conference fizzled out. They tried to stall me in every way,” she said.

There was a guest house lobby who wanted to hush up the case. An MLA she met wasn’t interested in the case as it wasn’t a ‘ politically important crime’. When investigating the trail of money, banks refused to disclose transactions of their clients. “ I told them at least give me the confidence that I’m on the right track. If you can’t give me copies of documents at least show them to me.” One mother wasn’t pleased that she was pursuing the case. “ He gave my son a bike,” she told Barse.

Peats would lure the boys promising he would take send them abroad.

When Barse encountered Peats outside court after one session, his astonishing comment to her was: “ I like the way you fight for children.” Barse submitted formatted sheets with the evidence and all the sections of law applicable to Peats.

“ I investigated the case and drafted charges and got the Law Commission to examine them. I showed the chairperson of the Law Commission all the papers and he was very impressed,” said Barse.

The Goa police who were completely at a loss on how to proceed in this case, asked her to teach them how to write a chargesheet in the matter.

She doesn’t believe Raymond Varley’s dementia claim is credible and dismisses it as rubbish.

“ I always believe you can never go by the word of one professional when declaring someone mentally ill because there can be all kinds of vested interests involved. I don’t care if the professional is the best in the whole of Europe, there should be a panel of professional experts taking a decision,” she says firmly.

Further, she contests how Varley is taking decisions of his own. “ A dementia patient is accompanied by someone and isn’t able to take decisions. Here he selected his own neuropsychologist. The court should also look into his unending sources of money.” Putting Peats behind bars was what pushed Sheela Barse to relentlessly pursue the case in Goa.

“ The prevailing notion was that India is a safe place to go to because they don’t go a good job of prosecuting you and I wanted to change this. I made sure the system worked,” Barse says. Review Bureau 

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