MARGAO: Quepem Police on Monday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against husband-wife duo for allegedly assaulting and outraging the modesty of a 20-year-old girl at Molcornem.
The girl in her complaint stated that she was assaulted by one Ganesh Gaonkar and his wife as the couple had come with some persons to see an adjacent property. The girl who was alone at home came out with a wooden stick to ascertain who had arrived. In her complaint she further stated that the couple immediately began to abuse her, grabbed the stick and hit it on her head. The complainant alleged that Gaonkar’s wife caught hold of her while Ganesh damaged her salwar. However, the complainant managed to escape and ran inside her house.
At 11 am, the girl along with her mother filed a complaint at the Quepem Police Station. Later she was sent for a medical checkup. The police confirmed that she sustained a “simple” head injury. The girl whose statement was recorded came out of the police station after 5 hours. A counter complaint was filed by the Gaonkar couple.
However, the girl alleged that the PSI Remedios D’Souza kept her waiting to file her complaint and repeatedly asked her if she was willing to compromise.
“He told me that if I go ahead with the complaint, I will have problems in getting a job. He even asked me why I didn’t change my clothes”, she said. The girl went to the police station wrapped in a shawl.
When contacted, PSI Remedios D’Souza refuted the allegations but was unable to justify as to why it took so long to register the complaint and file the FIR.
There are several discrepancies in the statement recorded by PSI D’Souza. In the statement, he wrongly mentioned the victim’s age as 18 years and her year of birth as 2018. The girl’s statement was also not signed by a lady constable.
PSI D’Souza informed Herald that it is not compulsory to for a lady constable to sign the statement, which was given to the girl and that it was just a copy of the statement. He also tried to justify the incident stating it is a property dispute.
Auda Viegas of Bailancho Ekvott said any crime against women has to be recorded in the presence of a female officer and she has to sign the statement before giving it to the victim.
In the past, such technical lapses have led to delay in cases wherein victims were called again to record their statement.
Auda also informed that she contacted the Quepem Police station at around 6 pm and told them that charges of molestation and outraging modesty have to be applied.
The police informed Auda that an FIR has been filed but the victim and her family claim that they have not been intimated regarding the same.
