Mapusa court convicts cop of forced unnatural sex in police station

Panaji: A Goa police constable, Vishwavijay Parab, was convicted by a local criminal court for having unnatural sex with a woman who was taken to Mapusa police station after being rescued from the town.The case dated back to Aug 13, 2011, when Parab, who was then a constable attached to Mapusa police station, while on duty, allegedly abused the woman with “filthy words, made obscene comments insulting her modesty, assaulted her, and touched her buttocks, thereby outraging her modesty”.After having forceful oral sex with the survivor, Parab threatened her with dire consequences. According to the prosecution, he then told her that nobody would listen to her as he was right and she was wrong.The case was investigated by then crime branch PI Sunita Sawant, who is now SP, anti-narcotics cell. She filed a chargesheet against Parab, who pleaded not guilty.The survivor said that her statement was recorded seven times. Judicial magistrate first class, Mapusa, Purva Naik, stated that the line of cross-examination by the accused appeared to deny the identity of the survivor, “but there is nothing contrary to suggest that she is not the complainant”.“Undisputedly, the survivor is not from Goa, and the fact that she is from Mumbai is corroborated by the other witnesses examined by the prosecution,” the court observed. “The identity of the complainant is confirmed by the other witnesses examined by the prosecution and, moreover, by the investigating officer, and therefore the line of defence fails.”The judge also said that there was nothing on record to show that the survivor had some enmity with the accused to falsely implicate him. She also said that even after so many years, the survivor clearly identified the accused in court on the basis of the same facial mark. She added that “there is no reason” for the woman “to falsely implicate the accused person, who is a police officer”.“The accused is convicted for the offence punishable under Section 377 (unnatural sex), 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509, and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, and Section 248 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code,” the court observed.