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Russian consulate protests Goa MP's rape remarks
New Delhi/Mumbai, Dec 16 (IANS):
The Russian consulate in Mumbai Wednesday protested to the Goa government over state Congress MP Shantaram Naik's ''insensitive remarks'' about the alleged rape of a Russian woman.
When contacted, the consulate declined to share the details of the letter. An official of the Russian embassy in New Delhi also declined to speak about the contents of the letter, saying it can't do so as “the matter is under investigation”.
The consulate said that if the Goa government believes that the rape is justified since the woman was out of her hotel at 2 a.m., it would warn Russian nationals visiting the state, said sources. The Congress MP from Goa Tuesday attracted the ire of women members in the Rajya Sabha for saying that a rape case should be treated differently if the victim is known to be moving with strangers beyond the middle of the night.
Naik blamed the media for highlighting the controversial case of a Russian woman working in Goa who has claimed she was raped earlier this month by a state politician in his car after having dinner with him.
"An alleged rape of a lady who moves with strangers for days together, even beyond middle of the night, is to be treated on a different footing,” he had said. His remarks antagonised women members who sought the intervention of Deputy Speaker K. Rahman Khan, saying Naik should not be allowed to speak the language which was derogatory to women. In an earlier letter to Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, the Russian consul general had said Dec 14 that "crimes against women" in Goa were increasing and that the mission was willing to tell its citizens not to go out after 10 p.m. in Goa, if it helped the situation. "The incidents where Russian citizens are victim of crime in Goa have caused a great public concern in our country. Because of poor security situation in Goa, foreign tourists might become victims of crime," consul general of the Russian consulate in Mumbai, Alexander Mantytsky said.
When contacted, the consulate declined to share the details of the letter.
