By IANS
Jaipur : While the Rajasthan Police battled scandal with a British journalist alleging rape in the lake town of Udaipur, a 2006 rape case was back in the news with elusive senior Orissa cop B.B. Mohanty Thursday surrendering, more than a year after his convicted son jumped parole.
As those in the travel trade worried whether the various cases would hit tourism, the fugitive officer – who was suspended as Orissa director general of police (home guard and fire service) and was wanted by the Rajasthan Police for his alleged role in helping son Bitti Hotra Mohanty jump parole in November 2006 – was remanded to 14 days judicial custody.
Mohanty had surrendered before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Rajendra Kumar Bansal in the morning.
Bitti Mohanty was convicted of raping a 26-year-old German tourist in Alwar in March 2006. An Alwar court sentenced him to seven years in jail. He was allowed a 15-day parole to meet his ailing mother Nov 20, 2006 but he did not return to jail.
The Rajasthan Police had filed a case against B.B. Mohanty for allegedly helping and abetting his son to escape from judicial custody and harbouring him since then.
Mohanty had allegedly signed a surety bond worth Rs.50,000 to take Bitti on parole. He has, however, so far refused that he had done so and also denied any knowledge of his son’s whereabouts.
He has been charged with criminal conspiracy, obstruction to the lawful apprehension of another person and harbouring an offender who has escaped from custody. If found guilty, Mohanty faces jail term of a year-and-a-half to life imprisonment.
While he was sent to the Jaipur central jail here, the guesthouse owner accused of raping the British journalist last month was sent to a day’s judicial custody by an Udaipur court.
Parvat Singh, 28, owns the Pardesi Guest House in Ambamata area of Udaipur, was sent to the Udaipur central jail.
“The 40-year-old journalist did not inform us earlier of the incident. We came to know about it through the British High Commission. She had sent an email to the high commission alleging she was raped during a night when she asked for an extra blanket from the guesthouse staff,” a police officer said.
The same day, an American tourist complained that she had been molested in a temple in holy town of Pushkar. Last year, a Japanese tourist complained that she was duped by a group of men in Pushkar, drugged at a hotel and raped.
For a state that prides itself on its tourist potential, these reports are damaging to say the least.
“These kinds of incidents do bring a bad publicity for the state. There has been a trend of people travelling alone, especially women, and now these single travellers would be hesitant to come to the state,” Sanjay Kaushik, a travel agent, told IANS.
“Rajasthan has always been considered a very peaceful state, but the recent rape and molestation cases have been affecting its image. Tourists will have to be reassured that they are safe here, otherwise we might see a decline in arrivals, especially of foreign individual travellers,” added Ravi Singh, a travel agent dealing in inbound tours.
With a record arrival of more than 1.2 million foreign tourists and 17 million domestic tourists during 2005-06, the desert state is one of the most popular Indian destinations.
The annual rate of growth of tourism in the state has been phenomenal in last few years – seven percent for domestic tourists and five percent for international visitors.