Jenifer Monsarrate, wife of Atanasio Monserrate, the former Education Minister and unattached Congress MLA from Goa, who has been booked for allegedly raping a minor girl, has spoken out in support of her husband.
“I’m completely with my husband, I don’t believe false allegations against him, it’s political vendetta,” she said in a statement to ANI.
She further added that she is sure her husband would never indulge in such activities.
The politician, along with the victim’s stepmother, has been charged with human trafficking, after the girl claimed that she had been sold to him, according to media reports.
Monserrate, also known as Babush, was charged by officials of the Panaji police station on Wednesday. The victim was earlier working with him.
The case has been transferred to the women’s police station, which functions under the crime branch, a senior police official said on Thursday.
The Superintendent of Police (Crime), Karthik Kashyap said that an FIR was filed under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 328 (causing hurt), 370 (detaining against will), 376 (rape) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Goa Children’s Act.
“The FIR has been registered on the complaint of the victim who is a minor girl against a person called Babush and further investigation is going on. It is being undertaken by the women’s police station. The investigation at a preliminary stage,” Kashyap said.
When contacted, Monserrate said, “I will not run away from the investigations. Currently, I am out of station and will be arriving tomorrow morning. After that, I will depose before investigating agencies. The girl was working in my showroom and I had removed her for misappropriation of funds.
This is a conspiracy against me”.
I had hired this girl to work in my Hallmark store because her parents came to me to look for a job. But she stole some money from the counter and I had sacked her. This complaint is false. There is no question of me getting intimate with her.Atanasio Monserrate
“She has complained at someone else’s bidding,” Monseratte added.
Monserrate was elected to the St. Cruz constituency on a Congress ticket but was sacked from the party after he started hobnobbing with the BJP. He has been booked for extortion in the past.
His son Rohit was also arrested for allegedly raping a minor German girl five years back, but was later acquitted of the charge.
(With agency inputs)
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