Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that he has sought a day-to-day report from the police in the case of a rape victim who went missing from a rehabilitation centre on April 28.
The victim, who was a minor in 2016, had accused Atanasio Monserrate, Congress candidate for the May 19 Panaji Assembly bypoll, of allegedly drugging and raping her.
"If someone has been kidnapped or whether she has gone somewhere, the responsibility is on the government to trace her. I am taking a day-to-day report," Sawant told a press conference.
Monserrate was chargesheeted last year under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 506 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act after being booked in 2016 for allegedly raping the girl, who was a minor at the time, after drugging her.
On April 28, nuns who run the rehabilitation home in South Goa, had filed a missing complaint after she disappeared, following which police had registered a First Information Report under section 362 (abduction) of the IPC.
Responding to criticism from the Opposition that the victim had disappeared while she was in government care, Sawant said that she had been kept in the care of a rehabilitation centre on the recommendation of a court-appointed Child Welfare Committee and not in the custody of the state government.
"The truth will be revealed soon, it will not take many days," he said.
The disappearance of the rape victim has emerged as one of the key talking points for the BJP in the campaign for the Panaji Assembly bypoll and the ruling party has been aggressively tapping the issue in a bid to corner Monserrate and the Congress party.
--IANS
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