Babush Monserrate does not only hope that a political mood swing will lift him from a prison cell and into the hurly burly of politics, where he, the vanquished rape accused will be the political hero. He is now seeking the ultimate privilege, that the media doesn’t get to know of the investigations against him.
We strongly argue that no rape accused deserves this privilege for two reasons a) The percentage of false rape charges is only a miniscule of the actual ones b) If the level playing field principle is applied, then the victim minor girl has a greater need for a level playing field primarily because she finds herself in such a situation because of her alleged victimisation by a very powerful politician in front of whom she is an absolute weakling. Moreover, during the course of the investigations, if the statements of the girl, which are reported in the media are worrying Monserrate, that’s his problem.
The media cannot be prevented from getting access to information because that causes discomfort to the accused. If that was a privilege rape and murder accused could enjoy, then not a word has been written about high-profile former Tehelka Editor Tarun Tejpal, or for that matter, on Indrani Mukherjea, the high society wife of TV tycoon Peter Mukherjea accused of killing her own daughter, Sheena Bora. Not one of these high-profile accused who faced an hourly scrutiny of every minute detail of her past, her exchanges, her relationships and the almost minute to minute account of her movement leading to the murder of her daughter, of which she is accused of, ever asked for a media gag on the investigations. In fact the Mumbai Police Commissioner held daily briefings on what has come to be known as the Sheena Bora murder case.
At the same time, if Monserrate is indeed innocent and the whole affair is a frame up, then shouldn’t he hope for the facts to be unearthed during investigations, and reported for his innocence to emerge? His own maid and driver denied that the victim was administered drug laced food and drink and that the driver went to drop her off home or to her friend’s place. And that was reported too. But what else would you expect his own staff, who live in Taleigao to do? They will naturally protect their master.
The criminal justice system needs to protect the victim above all else. The need to believe what the victim says is paramount because it takes both pain and courage for a minor girl to report that she was raped by a powerful politician. On the other hand, it takes only guile and manipulation on the part of the accused and his team to do everything under their command to dismiss the claims of a trauma struck girl. The accused is well within his rights to demand a fair trial but he should let the facts speak for themselves. If the truth is that he is, innocent, it will prevail during the course of investigations. And these investigations will contain the girl’s statements as well as his. The media is reporting these as much as it will report his. When he spoke to the media on Thursday about him floating a political party and exposing the ‘political conspiracy’, the media didn’t block the reportage.
The demand of the Child Welfare Committee for the media to be sensitive and protect the privacy of the girl and not disclose her whereabouts is completely justifiable and must be respected.
The bottom line is simply this. If you have nothing to hide, then do not stop the media from probing and writing. It is our job to do it in public interest because as a politician he has to return to the public. Above all this is about giving justice and closure to a very young girl. It is therefore the duty of the investigating agency to share information officially and publicly. These cannot be called leaks. Herald demands that the Goa police should actually conduct a daily official briefing on the case giving complete details of how the investigation is progressing. We need transparency not stealth.
