German minor girl:Rohit’s parents vouch for his innocence

Rohit’s parents vouch for his innocence
Accuse Ravi Naik Of Targeting Their Family, Claim Cops Acting In Biased Manner
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Panaji: The parents of Rohit Monseratte, who has been accused of raping a minor German girl, on Wednesday night claimed that their son is innocent and that they were trying to locate him. They alleged that home minister Ravi Naik was targeting the education minister and his family and the police were acting in a “biased manner”.
“We are trying to locate Rohit. He is not in the house and we don’t know where he is. It has been over a week and he has not contacted us,” said Rohit’s mother Jennifer Monseratte. Babush however said that Rohit is “very much around”. Speaking to presspersons, Jennifer, who has also been served summons by the Calangute police on Wednesday to appear before them, said, “I am here to give my side of the story. The police have not followed proper procedures in filing the FIR. The girl has neither given her statement nor has she been sent for a medical examination, yet the police has registered a case against my son and accused him of rape”. My son is not even friends with the minor girl, the mother added.
“If there has been rape, when and where was the minor raped? Why is the police working hard to cajole the girl to go for a medical examination? If she was raped she would have willingly gone to the hospital,” she said.
She alleged that the messages may have been manipulated. “I don’t even know who was using the cellphone. Rohit was definitely not using the mobile phone from which the SMSs were sent,” she said.
“Everytime they want to get at my husband, my children are targeted. This time Rohit is being targeted when the mobile is not even in his name. The mobile to which the SMSs were sent is not in the girl’s name but in her mother’s. Maybe someone had sent the SMSs to the mother,” alleged Jennifer. When asked if her husband, in whose name the mobile Rohit used is said to be registered, sent the SMSs to the German woman, she just smiled. Explaining why her son is scared to come home, she said that her children don’t trust the Goa police. “We don’t think our children can be safe with the police, especially after the manner in which my second son Amit was dragged and beaten up by the police in February”, she said.
Casting aspersions on the character of the girl, Jennifer asked, “The minor is not in school. What kind of a girl is she if she can be lured by gifts? Why are the police taking the foreigner’s words as gospel truth. Is this one big conspiracy?” Jennifer also denied going to the German mother’s home. The German mother had alleged that Jennifer had gone to her house on October 3, asking her to withdraw the complaint.
“The police are controlled by the home minister. Why is the police department using a different yardstick for me and my sons and a different yardstick for him and his sons. There were so many allegations against his family but the police never acted,” alleged Babush. Asked if he feared an arrest in this case, he said anything was possible. “They have done it before, and can do it again.” Alleging that the Goa police are biased against his family, he said, “Ravi Naik is targeting me and using the entire police force against me. It’s for the chief minister, cabinet members and other MLAs to realise that today it’s my family but tomorrow it can be their family.

October 16,2008, The Times of India, Goa edition