PANJIM: It was double trauma for a woman tourist who had come to the State on a vacation. She was allegedly molested twice forcing her to shorten her stay in Goa. The first time visitor in her mid thirties to this tourist-centric coastal state was initially molested by a ‘thin dark skinned’ perpetrator who assaulted her and tore her clothes at Baga beach and later by the doctor in the Goa Medical College, where she was taken for a medical test.
“There were two female doctors in the examination hall along with him (male doctor). He asked me to remove my upper body clothing. He then pressed my breasts and walked to his table without speaking a word,” she told Herald, expressing shock at the incident.
The medical examination was held in the presence of a lady constable and bilingual Russian-English interpreter. The victim, in her shock was not able to get the name of the doctor though she said that the other doctors on duty called him Sir. “I was taken to the hospital because I was a victim; but in the hospital, I was molested again,” she told Herald. The doctor, the victim recalled was was continuously shouting at the lady constable – who escorted her for medical test, asking why such ‘trivial’ issues were being referred to the GMC.
According to rules, a male doctor cannot physically examine a woman victim of sexual offense unless she is referred for ‘age assessment.’
However, authorities mention that the GMC doctor gave a report saying that she refused medical examination after she did not let her genitals be touched by him insisting that she was molested only on her upper body. In an apparent fit of pique he wrote out a report saying she refused medical examination.
Not surprisingly, GMC authorities were not available for comment and acting Dean Dr A Mesquita failed to respond to calls. However, a senior official when contacted said that they would conduct an inquiry into incident. “If the doctor is found guilty, action will be taken and there will be a police complaint against him,” he said.
However, police defended themselves saying that they have done their duty.
“She did not cooperate with the police. When she approached the police station, we took her to the hospital for medical examination but she refused. The next day, we approached her again but she was reluctant to file a complaint. It was upon our insistence that a complaint was finally made and the police registered the case immediately,” an officer said claiming there was no delay on the part of the police.
The obviously disturbed victim has informed the Russian consulate in Mumbai about the matter.
“The victim has informed the Russian consulate of the matter. What has also disturbed her is the way her breasts were examined by a male doctor at GMC,” Russian Federation Consulate’s Goa representative Vikram Varma told Herald. “Being on a short visit to India, she would be unable to follow up with the slow process of the criminal justice system here. Amendments to the system are required on an urgent footing unless we want justice to be consistently buried.”
Police officials said that the molestation case against the unidentified youth is being investigated. “We haven’t received a separate complaint from the victim on the GMC issue but we are in possession of all the medico-legal papers related to the first case. The medical papers will have the doctor’s signature based on which he can be identified. The department will cooperate with the Russian consulate,” the officer said.
A private professional back in her home country, the woman, hours after landing at Dabolim international airport along with her female friends on October 16, was earlier molested by an unknown man at Baga. “We had dinner at ‘Dream Catcher’ shack on October 16 night and spent some extra hours at the shack. We then decided to head back to the hotel where we have booked rooms,” she, adding, “While walking on the footpath, one man approached me and began talking in the language I didn’t understand. He then assaulted me, tore off my clothes and fiddled with my breasts. I called out to my friends who were walking ahead of me.”
The man, whom she has identified as thin, dark skinned and about 170 cms tall, escaped from the spot after snatching her gold chain. The shack management soon called up the Calangute police, who took her to the police station where PI Rajesh Kumar called up the Russian consular office in Goa asking for an interpreter to register an offense.
Police in the spotlight again
The role of the police has come under the scanner once again in connection with an offense against women. A Russian tourist was made to wait for hours at the Calangute police station by the lower hierarchy of the force before registering the case. While the PI was quick to inform the Russian consular office in Goa about the alleged molestation case, his subordinate officers registered an FIR only after more than 24 hours.
According to the woman complainant, an unknown youth assaulted and robbed of her gold chain about 3 am on October 17 whereas an FIR was registered at about 4:30 pm on October 18. This was even as the victim reported the matter to the police minutes after the incident occurred along the tourist belt. She was also subjected to medical examination twice, one which was not recorded and interestingly before the case was registered. The Calangute police claim they went through a tough time to convince the victim to file a formal complaint as she was reluctant.
