Team Herald
PANJIM: The Children’s Court on Monday extended by three more days the police custody of St Cruz MLA Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate accused of raping a minor. He has already undergone three days of custodial interrogation.
Earlier on Monday he underwent a psychological test that lasted over an hour at the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour. The report came ‘normal’.
Crime Branch (CB) through public prosecutor Nita Marathe submitted that Monserrate was not cooperating with the investigation and as such the court should extend his custody by 10 days. She also said that statements of more witnesses are to be recorded and the accused could influence them.
Monserrate’s legal representative Adv Saresh Lotlikar submitted that since the investigation agency is spending more time on psychological tests, there was nothing left to investigate. He also questioned that if Monserrate intended to influence the victim or witnesses, he would not have surrendered to CB.
Principal Session Judge B P Deshpande, who holds additional charge as Children’s Court President, rejected the CB plea and instead remanded Monserrate to three days police custody along with the juvenile’s stepmother.
Monserrate is alleged to have ‘procured and raped’ a 16-year-old girl, while the victim’s stepmother is charged with selling her to the MLA in connivance with third accused Rosy Ferros for Rs 50 lakh.
Adv Rajeev Gomes, another lawyer representing Monserrate, told reporters outside the court that the investigation agency has failed to collect proper evidence in the case. “The investigation is biased. Statement of the girl is manipulated. The process of manipulation started from Child Welfare Committee at Apna Ghar. There is no question of the accused not cooperating as he has surrendered before the police,” he said.
He claimed that the girl made her statement under pressure and objected to the police unnecessarily subjecting Monserrate to a psychiatric test. The forensics department had recommended the test on Monserrate after it noticed some old injuries on his body, which were allegedly self-inflicted.
Meanwhile, the girl’s stepmother has applied for bail and this will be heard on Thursday. She submitted that the raid did not find anything incriminating from her house and the cash seized was a small amount.
