Preetu Venugopalan, TNN 8 December 2009, 04:59am IST

PANAJI: The Russian girl who was allegedly raped says that police forced her to register a complaint of assault and threatened her that her visa would be revoked.

Although the girl alleged that at about 2am on December 2 she was raped by Fernandes, who had contested the assembly elections in June 2007, Colva police registered a case of attempt to rape.

According to the FIR, Fernandes "jumped on the complainant to rape her". The complainant pleaded with him not to rape her. "He remained on the complainant for about 10 minutes. The complainant has received scratches and black marks all over her body as she tried to prevent the rape."

Speaking to TOI, the girl, who arrived in Goa in August 2009 on a business visa and works as a Russian representative in a five star hotel in South Goa said, "The Goa police seems to have preconceived notions about foreigners and they judge all foreigners in a similar fashion." She claimed that she had been wronged twice.

"First, by Fernandes, who pretended to be friendly and helpful and then raped me, and then by the police officer, who tried to scare me off. I want justice and that's why I have approached the Russian consulate," she said.

Explaining the sequence if events on that night, the girl said she had gone to a shack at Colva with a friend when Fernandes joined them at the bar and offered some cocktails. They were in the shack till 2am. "I had come on my scooter. But as I felt uneasy driving the bike after the cocktails, John offered to drop us home and we agreed as I knew John," she said.

The girl claims that she was raped after her friend was dropped home. "I was scared and begged him to drop me home. When I reached home I was in a state of shock and collapsed on the bed." She claimed that she woke up the next afternoon and went to the police station to report the incident.

"I was told by lady police officers that this was a case of molestation and I must complain accordingly. Later, the police inspector tried to influence me that to ensure that I don't get into trouble I should drop the charges against Fernandes."

Meanwhile PI Sidhant Shirodker, who was holding charge of Colva police station when the girl registered the complaint, has refuted charges that the Russian girl was harassed.

He stated the girl arrived at the police station and wrote the complaint herself, which was received and registered at 4.15 pm the same day.

Preetu Venugopalan, TNN 5 December 2009, 04:20am IST, the times of india, goa edition