Just as the dust was settling down after the horrific fatal accident at Banastarim in the first week of August that claimed three lives and left an equal number seriously injured for life, the State was shocked to be hit by a series of rape and molestation cases.
It was a bloody Wednesday when three murder cases involving migrants were reported across the State on the same day. The police detected two cases with the arrest of three persons, including a woman. The murders were reported at Fatorda, Mardol and Bicholim. In one case, the husband was arrested, while in the other, the wife and her paramour were nabbed.
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Two days earlier, the body of an Uttar Pradesh native was found floating in the river at Carambolim and subsequently during the course of investigation, Old Goa Police arrested four, including three brothers, for allegedly murdering the native of Mirzapur over a property dispute.
On Friday, Goa woke up to shocking news of murders reported from Margao and Porvorim. In the Margao case, a history-sheeter who was an undertrial was brutally murdered by two assailants while he was asleep at home. In the other case, the Porvorim police arrested the ex-boyfriend and his accomplice in connection with the murder of 30-year-old Kamakshi Uddapnov. The jilted lover murdered the girl at Porvorim and dumped her body at Amboli Ghat.
During the monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in a written reply informed that the State witnessed a total of 115 murder cases from January 2020 to June 2023. However, a closer look at the statistics reveals that the State has witnessed a sharp rise in murder cases during the recent years. A total of 44 murder cases were registered in 2022, as against 26 cases in 2021, and 34 in 2020.
The Chief Minister and the DGP can make tall claims of a high crime detection rate, but the fact is that crimes are on the rise. There is a murder reported almost once every eight days on an average, but we are made to believe that ‘all is well’. Take a look at the week gone by, rapes, child molestations, and now murder. If the crime graph keeps increasing, Goa might indubitably be termed as the crime destination of the country.
Police need to undertake a serious introspection as even minors are involved in heinous crimes including gang wars, rapes and fatal drunken driving. Migrants have no fear, to the extent that 25 percent of the sample for verification in Calangute did not have their whereabouts verified by the local police. Drugs business goes on as usual and the new trend of online gambling and illegal casinos in the nook and corner of towns and villages is a slap on the face for those who patrol the areas.
To top it all, cases like the Kamakshi murder, wherein just hours after a submission in writing to the Mapusa police that he will not interfere with the woman, the 22-year-old youth hacks the girl to death and dumps the body at Amboli Ghat in Maharashtra, after crossing the State’s border in his car by giving the three check posts the slip.
Goa is in a free fall and the susegad Goan is restless as the pristine State of sea, sand and sun – despite being the smallest and most sought after for its beauty – is heading for a crime-laden disastrous future. The average Goan helplessly expects the government, especially the Chief Minister who is also the Home Minister and the DGP, to roll up their sleeves and govern the State with an iron fist. Since ‘charity begins at home’, it is imperative to clean up the law enforcing system first.
