Vasco rape case: Complaint filed under SC/ST Act

Women activists under the aegis of the Civil Right Group on Sunday filed a complaint under the SC/ST Act in connection with the alleged rape of a minor girl on the school premises in Vasco town in January.

The complaint filed under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act,1989,with the Vasco Police,points out the delay in arresting the unidentified accused involved in sexually abusing the seven-year-old in the school toilet on January 14. A copy of the complaint was given to the Crime Branch which formed a 20-member squad to crack the case.

The police have registered a case under the Goa Childrens Act and slapped various sections of the IPC against the accused.

Activists Auda Viegas and Albertina Almeida,who were among those who filed the complaint,said the fresh complaint under the SC/ST Act also covers the police as they failed to properly probe the case even two months after the incident. The victims father moved a local court demanding the arrest of the school staff,including the headmistress,who gave the girl a bath and mopped the toilet after the alleged rape.