Goa rape case: Anti-Rodrigues ad published in local daily Panaji (PTI): The German rape case has spilled over into the media advertisement space with an anti-Aires Rodrigues advertisement being published in the local daily signed by 390 people.
Rodrigues, who is a lawyer of the German mother, who has accused son and nephew of two Goa ministers of raping her daughter, has said that the advertisement is a handiwork of Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Churchill Alemao. "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 in Panaji this afternoon. The advertisement released in local English Daily O Herald accuses Rodrigues, who is also a social activist, of blackmailing people in the guise of activism. It has also commented on the personal life of Rodrigues accusing him of bigamy. However, Alemao, talking to PTI, refused his hand in the advertisement alleging that Rodrigues is unnecessarily roping him into the controversy. "Media is unnecessarily creating the controversy. My name does not appear in the advertisement so why to accuse me?" Alemao questioned. The PWD Minister also claimed that the advertisement was a spontaneous outburst against Rodrigues. "Aires is unnecessarily running a vendetta against my family," he added. Rodrigues is also a convenor of Utt Goenkara, a local NGO, which has taken up crusade against state Education Minister Atanasio Monserratte. Despite Court directives not to disclose the name of victim or her parents, the advertisement also mentions the name of the German lady. 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. Rodrigues 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 lawyer claimed that Alemao's nephew Warren had also raped the minor German girl. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200810281511.htm ~(^^)~ Avelino
