Man accused of rape receives death threats

Manama : A man who has been receiving death threats from Bahrain and India after he was accused of rape is now seeking legal help. 

Indian national Gopal said he was undergoing mental torture after a former Bahrain resident accused him of rape.

The woman, with whom he formerly shared a romantic relationship, was briefly in Bahrain after he helped her find a job.

The woman has filed a police case against him in India accusing him of drugging and raping her while she was in Bahrain. 

He denied the allegations and said that he is surprised at the accusations. 

The allegations were made public by a social worker in India who posted a video on Facebook relating the woman’s version of events. 

The post which included Gopal’s full name, picture and contact information, went viral and soon started receiving death threats, Gopal told DT News. 

“Gopal had contacted her offering a job in Bahrain. But when she went to Bahrain she found that he did not keep his promise of finding her a respectable job,” the social worker, who is helping the woman, said in the Facebook post, quoting the woman. 

The woman had told Gopal that she wanted to return to India after a week as she was unhappy with the job.

“When she wanted her passport back Gopal assaulted her and raped her. He beat her up and there are still marks on her body. He also posted nude pictures of her on social media,” the social worker said in the Facebook post. 

“I am clueless about why she has accused me of this. When she was in Bahrain she filed a complaint against her company for allegedly mistreating her but nothing against me. If I did anything to her she would have reported it to the authorities in Bahrain. Why would she wait until she is in India. I will fully cooperate with any investigation by the authorities but what does not make sense is social media is that residents making judgement on their own and deciding to punish me this way,” said Gopal.

“I have suffered  a lot. My flatmates have thrown me out of the apartment because I was receiving death threats. I am homeless now. Nobody was ready to accommodate me even for a few days because of the situation I was in. I had to show up at my place of work carrying all my belongings. I spent hours on the road without a place to sleep,” he said.

“The social worker who posted the video could have visited my home in India to find out my version of the story; my parent’s home is in the same neighbourhood as the woman’s and she could have visited them to know the whole story,” he said. 

Elaborating further he said, “It is true that we shared a romantic relationship but this was a long time ago while I was in India. We both moved on.  She was struggling financially, I helped her find a job and helped her move here. Because of various reasons she was fired from her job and had to return to India. She was taking out her anger on me; she even burnt my passport in rage and even attempted suicide by consuming poison while in Bahrain when her boyfriend abandoned her, “ he said.

He said he has approached the Indian Embassy for help and will soon hire a lawyer.