Richie Teeluck might be in a real mess. Of course, he is innocent until proved guilty by the court. And so far he has denied the accusations of attempt upon chastity that a 12 year-old girl and her 33 year-old mother have made against him. However, if the alleged victims manage to prove in court, that their allegations are right the psychologist of the ministry of Women may have to pay a high penalty. As a civil servant, he may be more severely punished than any other citizen.

The section 86 of the criminal code (under chapter III known as ?Crimes and misdemeanours against the Public Peace?) makes it clear, ?Any functionary, or public officer, or any agent of, or any person appointed by Government or the police, or any other person entrusted with the execution of judicial orders or sentences, or any civil or military authority, acting in the discharge of his functions, or for the purpose of discharging such functions, who, without lawful reason, uses or causes to be used any violence towards any person shall, according to the nature and extent of the violence so used, be liable to double the punishment which would have been incurred by any other person guilty of the like crime or misdemeanour?.

This section is one of the rare examples in the law where discrimination is applied to the accused. Obviously, someone using his or her post to cause violence on a victim shall be more severely punished than anyone facing the same accusations. Usually, the law makes provision for the victims and does not discriminate the accused. However, positive discrimination may be applied in cases where victims are known as invalid (for disabled people for instance) ? in such cases, sentences may be more severe. This is clearly done to protect the victims.

Meant to protect

Similarly, this section of the criminal code seems to aim at protecting victims ? it is actually the overall objective of law. Civil servants are supposed to be the incarnation of authority, which is meant to protect all citizens. No one should be tempted to use one?s official position to cause any violence to any citizen, as it would be in contradiction with one?s duties.

If the psychologist was to be found guilty in that case, and as he is a civil servant, the Court may choose to give him a more severe sentence. If the alleged victims were proved right, it would mean that those seeking for help with the ministry of Women were finally even more traumatised. It will however be, of course, up to the Court to see who is telling the truth.

However, lawyer Razack Peeroo insists that the sentence will depend on the definition given to the term ?violence?. Section 86 indeed makes provision for ?any violence? but does not specify which type of violence may be concerned and if it applies to attempt upon chastity.

If there is no specific definition in the law, it will be left to the court to use the definition it may find appropriate. ?The court will do an interpretation of the intentions of the Court when they adopted the section of the code and apply it to the case concerned,? Razack Peeroo points out. ?However, I believe that the definition should include all the different aspects of violence. According to the modern definition and legal interpretation of this term, violence can be physical, emotional, mental and psychological.?

One week to find the psychologist...

Many may be wondering how the police could take more than one week to find the psychologist of the ministry of Women. In fact, they did not even find him, as he decided to give himself in last Monday. No one should be arrested upon mere allegations and the police should do an investigation before arresting anyone in to have solid grounds when the suspect goes to court. However, the police are the ones to decide whether one should be arrested or not depending on the nature of the allegations or on the urgency of the case. But general practice shows that many suspects are arrested immediately after allegations are made and if the allegations made against them are serious enough to justify the arrest. In that specific case, the police said they could not find the suspect when the allegations were made.