By Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji
Panaji, May 21: The Russian girl who was arrested for overstaying and going around without passport in Goa has not broken her silence for almost nine months while she is undergoing one year jail term at Aguada jail near here.
In a tale that can be scripted for a Hollywood story, 25-year-old Russian girl Violetta Gasanova, who is lodged at a central jail here has not spoken a single word from the day she was arrested without passport and overstaying here.
The jail officials told PTI that even attempts by Russian consulate to get her talk by calling her mother all the way from Russia failed. The girl was even referred to state government run Institute of Psychiatric and Human Behaviour (IPHB) and treated for depression for one month.
Alike thousands of Russian tourists who visit Goa, Violetta had come down here, single, on August 08, 2007 on a six months visa. “She was emotionally and physically healthy child when she left from her home at Anapa Lermonotova in Russia,” the mother has informed state home ministry.
The police record indicates that Violetta was arrested on August 04, 2008 for overstaying after Anjuna police station received `anonymous’ call informing about she going around without a passport and valid visa.
Anjuna police charged the girl under section 3 and 4 of passport entry act, section 7 (3) (iii) of Foreigners Order and section 14 of Foreigners’ act, 1946.
Police officials who refuse to come on record stated that the girl was interrogated by police inspector Ramesh Gaonkar where she did not uttered a single word during her two hour long wait at station.
She was later arrested and even in the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court, she remained mum without uttering a single word.
The Russian consulate which went for her rescue also had to return helpless as she refused to speak even in presence of a Russian translator.
The court sentenced her for one year imprisonment in August, 2008.
The local magistrate, who took the cognizance of her mental condition, referred her to IPHB where she was treated for one month and sent back to jail. Even here, she continued her silence.
“She was in such a state of shock that I requested mother to be called because there is nothing closer to her than her mother,” Vikram Varma, lawyer for Russian consulate, said.
Violletta’s mother, arrived in the state on January 18, 2009 and visited her daughter at the jail. But the girl continued her silence despite several attempts to convince her to speak.
In a major twist, Anjuna police who had charged her to roam around without passport suddenly claimed to have found her passport few days later. “The record indicated that she had left the passport on her hotel room,” police said.
The Russian authorities who feel that Violetta may have been victimized are wanting to go into the reasons behind her silence but could not do it as she is not uttering a single word.
“Something serious has happened to this bright and healthy girl who is in a complete state of shock and needs medical attention immediately,” Varma said.