SOMEWHERE IN BARDEZ: “I have not seen my son for nearly 25 days. I feel ashamed to go back to the village because people have started casting aspersions on my character,” the beleaguered mother of two said, as she spoke to Herald, in a location which she did not want to be disclosed, about her ordeal on being dragged into the ‘fake sex scandal’, by social activist and Advocate Aires Rodrigues
The victim has slammed Ribandar-based Rodrigues for tarnishing her image without verifying facts and has decided to fight till justice is met. “I know what the truth is but the villagers and those who have seen the posts, circulated by Rodrigues, doubt my character. I haven’t entered my village and neither seen my son for 25 days. Rodrigues has ruined my happy family life,” the woman said, a day after she filed a complaint against the lawyer at Anjuna police station.
Soon after the social media posts, which Rodrigues claimed showed the woman’s links with Water Resources Minister Vinod Palyekar went viral, the victim isolated herself. She is now living her husband and two-year-old daughter in an apartment, a little away from her in-laws. “I am mentally disturbed. Don’t know what to do. The stress is at a peak as my husband has started consuming alcohol and is most of the time staying out,” she said, reiterating she will fight till everything is cleared.
It was her driver and her rakhi brother, who informed her about the viral posts that later went on to become a major obstacle in her personal life. “Why should I bear all this when I am not at fault? My husband, driver and rakhi brother helped me confront Rodrigues at his office,” she said recalling that soon after the news broke to her family, the couple smashed their phones.
Admitting that Palyekar is known to her in-laws, including her husband, the woman had contested the recently held panchayat elections on the Goa Forward Party ticket. However, she lost by around 10 votes. “The minister visited our village after the results and asked us not to get disheartened with the defeat. He visited many houses and met many families including ours,” she stated, denying any other relationship with the minister.
On rumours that she would be the next Chairperson of the Fisheries Corporation, the woman countered, “How can I take that chair when I have not even passed SSC?” She claimed that her photo in circulation was picked by Rodrigues from her Facebook account, which she has not been able to access for many days as she has forgotten the password.
She also denied trespassing into Rodrigues’ office claiming, “We are not goons. My husband, myself, driver and rakhi brother confronted him on the fake posts. We have the right to know because he is defaming me.”
