Goa Police Book Congress MLA Atanasio Monserrate, Panjim Mayor And Former Deputy Mayor In Molestation Case

Goa Police has booked Congress MLA from Panaji Atanasio Monserrate, City mayor and former deputy mayor for allegedly molesting a woman on Saturday (1 June), The Hindu reports. The alleged incident had happened outside a casino office in Goa, during an anti-encroachment drive on Friday (31 May).

“Yes, Panaji police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the three based on a complaint lodged by a woman, who was protesting the partial demolition of a casino office's facade”, The Hindu quotes North Goa Superintendent of Police, Chandan Chowdhary saying.

The incident happened after one of the off-shore casinos in Goa had encroached on a footpath, and civic body workers accompanied by Monserratte, Mayor Uday Madkaikar and former Panaji Mayor Yatin Parekh had reached the spot to clear it.

The complainant, who was one of the members of the group opposing the demolition of the staircase constructed by the casino operator, alleged that the trio touched her inappropriately, abused her and outraged her modesty, the police reveal.

The three-term member of the Goa Legislative Assembly said that drive happened in a public space and in a public view, where there was nothing untoward happening at the time. "I do not know about this. Nothing untoward happened during the drive on Friday," he said.

The police have filed the FIR under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (outraging modesty), 504 (breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and have begun the preliminary investigation, they said.