Man Confining Wife, Daughters for Seven Years Arrested

A 60-year-old man, who had reportedly kept his wife and three daughters confined to a room for seven years fearing they would be raped if they went out, has been put under arrest.

“After preliminary investigations, we arrested the accused, Francis Gomes, late last night, for causing hurt to the victims and wrongfully confining them,” said Thane police inspector Ashok Pawar.

Police on September 29 had rescued the hapless women with the help of an NGO from their second floor flat in Neelambha Cooperative Housing Society at Naigaon in neighbouring Thane district.

Nevertheless, Gomes has refuted the charge in his statement.

Theresa, his wife, said in her complaint to the police that Gomes would lock them up inside the house when he left for work in the morning and would come back only in the night.

Gomes, as was written in complaint, was extremely overprotective about his daughters and had forcibly put them to the confinement of the house fearing they would be raped by strangers.

R Gopalakrishnan, member of the NGO Anand Rehabilitation Centre claimed that Gomes and Theresa moved into the flat seven years ago with their daughters. “Since then, the women have been facing this ordeal.”

He also said that the accused must be suffering from some psychological problems, which explains his extreme behaviour of forcibly confining his family inside the house in his absence.

Gomes has been booked under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 324 (causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.

The rescued women are undergoing medical and psychological treatment at a city hospital.