By IANS,
Panaji : Rohit, son of a Goa minister, should not be “unnecessarily” charged with raping a minor German girl, said Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemao, while denying allegations that he was sheltering the rape accused.
Addressing a press conference here Wednesday afternoon, Alemao criticised the police saying that the law and order situation in the state was poor.
“If Rohit has really raped that girl, you can hang him. But unnecessarily he should not be charged for rape only on the basis of the mother’s complaint. Tomorrow someone will say that I have raped their daughter. Will it be right on the part of the police just to arrest me,” said Alemao.
Alemao’s outburst is on the charge levelled by the victim’s counsel Aires Rodrigues that the PWD minister was sheltering Rohit in one of his properties in south Goa.
Home Minister Ravi Naik has instructed B.S. Brar, director general of police, Goa to enquire into the lead provided by Rodrigues.
Naik and Alemao have crossed paths before when the former was a chief minister.
“The current home minister Ravi Naik was chief minister when I was behind bars in 1990 for one and a half months,” he said.
A former chief minister, Alemao had been detained under the National Security Act (NSA).
Alemao clarified that he did not demand the sacking of Naik as home minister.
“It has happened to me. Despite being a former chief minister I was targeted. Politically you can do anything. If you allow the police they can do anything they want,” Alemao claimed.
He had been the unofficial spokesperson for a group of legislators who had lobbied hard for Naik’s ouster from the home ministry after the police booked Rohit for raping the 14-year-old German girl and later sending her obscene SMSs.
Rohit’s father, Goa Education minister Atanasio Monserrate, has also been booked for abetting the crime.
Meanwhile, the victim’s mother, Fadela Fuchs, consented in writing to the police for medical examination of her minor daughter.
Aires Rodrigues claimed that the consent was given Wednesday morning.
“The letter to the police says that the mother has no objection for the medical examination. She has also said that since the offences are grave, the police should expedite the matter,” Rodrigues said.