Rape of foreigners in Goa has left a permanent scar

PANAJI: If Indian women have a hard
time bringing to justice their
violators, it's worse for foreign
victims of rape. The track record of
solving cases of sexual assaults in Goa
and bringing the perpetrators to
book has been poor if anything to go
by the results of investigations
involving foreign victims.
After much public outcry over four
incidents of sexual assaults against
foreigners in the last four years, the
courts have acquitted the accused in
three cases, while the trial of British
teenager Scarlett Keeling, who was
found dead in 2008 on Anjuna beach,
is pending before the court.
While exonerating the suspects in the
three cases, the courts have
castigated the police for lapses in
investigation in two separate cases of
rape of a Russian woman and a
minor. The prosecution's charges in
rape cases against a few of the
politically-linked accused ended in a
fiasco partly due to the victim's fault
and also due to the failure of the
police to make the cases watertight.
In the case of the rape of a 14-year-
old German in 2009, the victim and
her mother refused to depose in the
trial against the former education
minister's son Rohit Monserrate
leading to his acquittal.
In another case the same year, local
politician John Fernandes got the
benefit of doubt as the 26-year-old
Russian complainant failed to bring
out the true facts of the case before
the court. The additional sessions
court observed that there were
several lapses in investigation and
these lapses could have been covered
by the prosecution by establishing
the case beyond doubt.
In yet another case, a juvenile
charged with raping a nine-year-old
Russian on Arambol beach in January
2010, was exonerated by the
children's court due to
inconsistencies in the testimony of
witnesses. The court noted that the
identification parade involving the
accused was not conducted as per the
guidelines. The court stated that the
prosecution should have examined
the artist, who had drawn the
portrait of the suspect after he fled.
"Suppression of this material fact
from the court should lead to
adverse inference," the court
observed.
The case of Scarlett Keeling is the
only one that continues in court. In
October 2009, CBI had filed a
supplementary chargesheet in the
case in the children's court. In March
2010, the court framed charges
against Samson D'Souza for culpable
homicide not amounting to murder
and sexual abuse of the victim, while
another accused, Placido Carvalho,
faces prosecution for abetment of the
offences.
While the prosecution has examined
some witnesses, the state children's
court in October, 2012, allowed an
application filed by CBI seeking the
examination of a British witness,
Michael Mannion alias Masala
(popularly known as Mike Masala),
through video-conferencing. The
case is likely to come up for hearing
next month.