Vasco, Goa:
Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parikkar, has promised action against the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT ) official who made shockingly insensitive comments after a seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped in a toilet in her school in Vasco in south Goa. MPT runs the school. Mr Parikkar said police have been asked to "take cognizance of the official's comments."
"Your child doesn't seem to be suffering that much," an official of the Trust had said to the father of the seven-year-old.
Mr Parikkar also met the girl's mother and other parents who complained about the management this morning. Speaking to NDTV, he said, "The minor rape victim is brave, but that does not reduce the heinous nature of the crime. Police have assured that action will be taken against the head mistress and others." He added, "It is unacceptable that evidence has been destroyed."
Speaking exclusively to NDTV, the father of the rape survivor said the official had come to visit them on Wednesday, two days after the incident to talk about the compensation the port trust was offering them. (
Watch the interview here)
"I was shocked when I heard that statement. How can he say that my daughter is not suffering? She has been scarred for life. The management's insensitivity has really disgusted and saddened me," he revealed, the outrage still reflecting in his quivering voice.
When NDTV contacted P Mara Pandiyan, MPT chairman, he said he wasn't aware if this comment had been made and promised to hold an inquiry.
The father, meanwhile, lashed out at the several lapses committed by the school and believed that the case had been damaged. "How can an educated teacher wash off evidence?" he asked referring to a teacher's act where she washed the victim's blood soaked underwear and skirt.
What irked the father most were the delays in reporting the case to the management and the police by the headmistress who has now been suspended by MPT. "How can a child be raped inside the heart of a school and no one has any clue? That too by a stranger? And my little girl was only seven years old," he said, his voice shaking with anger and hurt. "We have been completely shattered by this. We are just not able to come to term."
The accused has still not been nabbed four days after the incident. Angry protests by over a thousand parents have put pressure on the administration and the cops to act. Vasco shutdown on Tuesday in solidarity with the victim and her family.
The Goa police has set up a 15 member team but has failed to crack the yet. "We are trying out best. But this is a blind case," Deputy Inspector General of Goa, O P Mishra explained.
The girl was allegedly raped in the school toilet on Monday in Vasco, a port city in South Goa. According to eye witnesses, the accused was seen wearing a blue jeans and a blue, white and black striped long sleeved shirt in the school premises before committing the crime.