Mumbai : The Shiv Sena stoked a fresh controversy on Saturday by coming out in support of senior IPS officer Sunil Paraskar accused of rape by a 26-year-old model, claiming that it has become a “fashion” to charge men with rape to seek personal revenge.
“Cases of charging men with molestation and rape in hi-fi societies to create hype is on the rise now. It has almost become a fashion. After he has served for so many years in the police force, one model now charges DIG Sunil Paraskar with rape and in one night he becomes a villain. Such accusations have become good weapons to seek personal revenge,” the party said in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
This prompted Shiv Sena youth leader Aditya Thackeray to intervene and explain that actually the editorial was “a comprehensive argument on why ‘rape’, although one of the worst crimes, should be carefully tried in courts and not in the media.”
He said there were instances of families being broken, people committing suicide and others being defamed due to the media trials, even though the accused were later acquitted by the courts.
Hitting out at Shiv Sena over the editorial, the model said such comments should not be made without knowing the facts. “This matter is in the court, no one should be commenting in sensitive matters like this without knowing all the facts,” she said, speaking to PTI. She also said that Paraskar should produce evidence rather than making public the emails sent by her to him.
“Paraskar should provide the evidence (in his defence) to the media rather than showing the mails where I abused him or said that I will file an FIR against him. What do you expect from a girl who had been raped? Should she give respect to the guy who rapes her?” the model asked. Paraskar’s post in the police force at the time of the incident stopped her from immediately filing a complaint, she said. “Yes it took me time to go to the police. He was an additional commissioner at the time, I knew (about) his power, even today he is taking support from Shiv Sena and others. I have all the mails where I told him what he has done with me and there was no response from his end,” she added.
‘Saamna’ edit says slapping rape charge is now a fashion; Thackeray Jr. rushes to douse flames
If Paraskar was really innocent, he should have forthwith registered an FIR against her for defamation, she said. The Sena mouthpiece questioned the model’s intentions to file rape charges against the DIG when everything between the two “was fine” till now.
“What is the model’s background ? How did she suddenly make a rape accusation when everything between them was fine until now? This question comes to the mind of a common man but the police investigation seems to ignore these questions,” it said.
It questioned the delay in filing the case saying that a woman who has been subjected to such a torture will not be able to wait for so long to get justice. “This model filed charges after six months…. We have to remember after the unfortunate rape incident at Shakti mills, the victim filed her complaint in a couple of hours. No woman will be able to bear this inhuman treatment on her for even a minute. She would file a complaint immediately,” the Sena said adding that the facts of the case should be brought in public as soon as possible.
The 57-year-old DIG has been booked under sections 376(2) (rape by a police officer), 376(C) (intercourse by superintendent of jail, etc) and 354(D) (stalking) following a complaint by the Mumbai-based model. Paraskar, who had filed an anticipatory bail plea before a sessions court, had been granted interim protection from arrest till July 31 which was on Saturday extended till August 5.
