from Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (GA)
Panaji, Oct 28: The German rape case has spilled over into the media advertisement space with an anti-Aires Rodrigues advertisement published in the local daily signed by 390 people.
Rodrigues, who is a lawyer of German mother, who has accused son and nephew of two State ministers of raping her daughter, has said that the advertisement is a handiwork of public works department minister Churchill Alemao who is now indulged into mud-slinging through media.
Alemao refused his hand in the advertisement alleging that Rodrigues is un-necessarily roping him into the controversy.
The advertisement released in local English Daily `O Herald' accuses Rodrigues of blackmailing people in the guise of activism. Rodrigues is also a social activist and convener of Utt Goenkara, a local NGO, which has taken up crusade against state education minister Atanasio Monserratte.
The advertisement has also commented on personal life of Rodrigues accusing him of bigamy. Despite court directives not to disclose the name of victim or her parents, the advertisement also mentions the name of German lady, who has accused son of Monserratte and Alemao's nephew of raping her 14-year-old daughter.
"Many of the signatories in the advertisement are bogus. This is a handiwork of Alemao trying to divert attention of people from the rape case," Rodrigues told reporters here this afternoon.
He said that chief minister Digamber Kamat has miserably failed to control his cabinet members like Monserratte and Alemao, who are now all out to use their tactics against those fighting for justice.
Alemao has been at loggerheads with Rodrigues, after the latter claimed that Alemao's nephew Warren had also raped the minor German girl.
Alemao, when contacted, refused his involvement in the releasing of the advertisement. "Media is unnecessarily creating the controversy. My name does not appear in the advertisement so why to accuse me," he questioned. Alemao also claimed that the ad was a spontaneous outburst against Rodrigues. "Aires is unnecessarily running a vendetta against my family," he added.
The ad incidentally is in violation of the Children's Court directive which asked the media and the police to refrain from using the names of victim and her mother or any other information which could lead to identifying the victim.