NGO FACES 60 MILLION RUPEE SUIT OVER PAEDOPHILIA ALLEGATIONS
An Italian in Goa has given a new twist to the State's intense debate over paedophilia -- as child-sex abuse has come to be called -- by filing a Rs 60 million suit against a non-profit and public charitable trust that has worked on paedophilia issues. Sernabatim-based Italian national Lazinni Giorgio (59) has filed a civil suit against campaigners from the Margao-based Jan Ugahi group, for writing articles that were put out in cyberspace which linked his name with allegations on the growing concern of paedophilia in this holidayers' destination. This case was filed before the Third Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division) at Margao. Lazinni Giorgio of Massa, Carrara in Italy had faced trial in the Children's Court in Goa, for a case in November 2004 for allegedly wrongfully confining a minor girl in his house. He later faced police charges of sexually abusing and raping her. Goa children's court president A D Salkar however gave Lazinni the benefit of the doubt and acquitted him. Two others, a local and a migrant woman, were also given the benefit of the doubt and acquitted in the January 2006 judgement. Giorgio Lazinni charged that criminal case, filed by the Colva police station, was a false one. Lazinni's counsel made the case that Lazinni had been defamed in various articles, but the Jan Ugahi had "failed to inform the world across about [Lazinni] being found not guilty of the offence of rape nor any other offences." While the NGO took credit for its speedy follow-up on that case -- allowing for critical medical evidence to be found -- Lazinni's lawyers had argued that Lazinni had been "falsely chargesheeted by the Colva Police at the instance of the defendants (Jan Ugahi)." Lazinni, they said, was doing business in Italy and had co-owned a factory usef to manfuacture fishing equipment. He was also imparting lessons for deep-sea fishing, according to information submitted. Highlighted in the case were articles published in the the law-related journal Combat Law, the Portuguese-language SuperGoa.com, the journalists' network Goajourno, among others. Earlier, lawyer Anacleto Viegas had sent legal notices to websites and electronic mailing-lists over this case, and another earlier case involving a German national, Gunter Backmann of Dusseldorf and based at Sernabatim. Advocate Monisha Viegas had sent notice to Jan Ugahi, asking them to "remove all the defamatory contents" against Lazinni "being circulated by you to various websites" and to "update the same within 48 hours" or face legal action. Lazinni had argued that a search on Google.com for his name threw up a number of articles pertaining to what the Jan Ugahi team had written. He said the websites where posted "can be accesed by any individual not only in India but in any part of the world as the websites are not locked websites but websites accessible to all who have (a) fair knowledge of computers." Lazinni's lawyers argued in court that it became difficult for him "to even travel abroad as his bio-data can be scanned and there is every possibility of [the NGO-written article] which is totally baseless, false and malicious can be viewed by the passport authorities which at any point of time can cause immense damanges" to his character and prospects of travelling worldwide "for business and holiday". Filing for Rs 60 million (Rs 6 crore) in damages, his lawyers argued that Lazinni had "lost all his only source of income and has suffered a lost of more than three crores rupees (thirty million) invested by him in business." In addition, they also sought an additional three crores rupees, for "loss of reputation, loss of business, compensation for wrongful detention, and loss of time and money in defending false cases". Some debate between the non-profit organisation and journalists -- who incidentally had earlier accused the NGO of not doing enough -- also came up in the case. Lawyers for the Italian said the non-profit organisation had posted "various articles on various websites" that had defamed him personally as well as in his professional carreer, not only in India but worldwide. In this case, the mother of the young girl, a migrant from out of state, had herself complained, but later had not supported the case of the prosecution. Her daughter had worked in the home of Lazinni, and was promised she would be paid Rs 1500 for watering plants. After working for two days at Lazinni's home, she returned home on the morning of the third day. The mother had been cross-examined by the public prosecutor on the grounds that the witness was suppressing the truth. The girl herself faced delays in cross-examination, as the property sent for examination to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad had not then been received. Later, she did not appear before the court. Taking the mother and daughter's approach before the court, the judge noted that "the case of the prosecution is bound to fail on this count alone". Medical experts however had found that the girl had faced recent forcible sexual and anal intercourse. But the judge ruled that the medical evidence could not be used against Lazinni "in the absence of the evidence of the victim girl and in (the) absence of other circumstancial evidence on record to show that she was sexually abused by ...Lazinni." Lawyers for Lazzini also said that the "defamatory allegations" had been made "for no rhyme or reason and are totally false and are displayed on (the) website only to torture the Plaintiff as he is a foreigner". They also charged that the allegations had been made to portray the organisation as a "social service organisation and secure funds for themselves for (sic) foreign foundations." Goa has been repeatedly hit by concerns about paedophilia, rather child-sex abuse, specially affecting the children of poor migrants from neighbouring States like Karnataka. In the 1990s, a sensational case involving the self-documented abuse of young boys in an "orphanage" burst into the open, following the arrest of Freddy Peat, who claimed to be an Anglo-Indian. After his arrest and trial, Peat died in a Goan jail not long ago. Freddy Peat was arrested on 3 April 1991 in South Goa. In 2004, investigative website and weekly Tehelka did a sting operation to unearth Goa's lackadaisical approach towards the child-sex abuse problem in Goa. It named six foreigners, whom it said its lengthy investigations had shown to be directly involved in paedophilia. One was shown with two Indian young girls, one of whom he claimed was his wife, and the other his adopted daughter -- a claim the paper charged was not legally-valid. The six named paedophiles come from Germany, the UK (three in all), a Dutch national and an unidentified foreigner. Using hidden cameras, Tehelka claims it got evidence on tape. Its reporters posed as research students, event organisers and in other roles to ferret out the truth. ENDS