Sydney: A 39-year-old Indian-origin doctor has pleaded not guilty in an Australian court to charges of raping two women during consultations.
Manu Maimbilly Gopal, who hails from Kochi in the south Indian state of Kerala, allegedly digitally penetrated two women illegally when they complained of abdominal pain during separate visits to a Sunbury medical clinic in Melbourne in February last year, the Melbourne Age reported Monday.
He was arrested at Melbourne international airport while waiting for an India-bound flight March 1.
According to the report, when police contacted him Feb 29 about the sexual harassment charges, Gopal changed his pre-booked flight to Kochi from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. March 1 to avoid arrest.
“I really got panicked. I didn’t know what to do, so I can’t think properly. I just wanted to flee from this situation,” Gopal was quoted as saying when he was asked why he wanted to flee the country.
Defence lawyer Michael Tovey argued otherwise.
“What I put to you there was if Gopal is awkward, if he has a manner which creates stress and embarrassment, then the fact that two persons are distressed is no more remarkable than the fact that one person is distressed,” Tovey told the court. (IANS)