The reality of the present times is different and hence this question arises.
Gang wars return, this time on the streets of Calangute where four persons were injured in a clash. There were choppers and knives used, some of the arrested have criminal antecedents and yet the police make an attempt to downplay the incident, stating it was not a gang war, but criminal elements that had come there and got into a fight. There’s a very slim difference, if any, between the two and the police are merely playing with words to dilute the seriousness of the offence. If it’s not gang war, can the police explain why people will move about in the night hours with choppers and knives?
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The frequent gang fights in the State show up the police as incapable of acting against the criminal elements and send a clear message to the government and to the police and that message from the criminal elements is: we are not afraid of you. Nothing other than strong police action with full political backing for whatever is done can rid Goa of the gang culture. But, will that ever happen? When attempts are made to tone down the seriousness of an offence, the allegations of political patronage to the criminals cannot be ignored. If criminal elements have political benefactors then this gang culture will never end. How will the police act if the politicians ask them to be lenient?
This has not been the first gang fight in the State and will not be the last. Months ago, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant had said gang wars would not be tolerated in the State. We now have to question what happened to that statement and the announcement of ‘zero tolerance to guns and gang culture’ that the police had made last year. Were the government and the law enforcement agencies even serious about what they were saying or was it a placatory statement to ride over the wave of criticism that was coming their way? It appears to have been the latter as after that pronouncement there have been more such fights and criminal elements have shown no fear of the law.
In August last the opposition Congress had met the Governor claiming a collapse of the law and order situation in the State. Just a little over a month later the gang fight – which the police are claiming is not – at Calangute endorses this view. When the police say that a clash between criminal elements is not a gang fight, can the force be trusted to keep the citizens safe? The collapse in law and order becomes visible not just when crime increases, but when those who are tasked with preventing crime and keeping the people safe find excuse to play down the offence. This is what is happening in Goa.
The State requires a government and a police force that is committed to fighting crime, not by statements but by action. Gang fights, rapes, assaults will not end if the police act leniently with the criminal elements. The frequency of gang fights has increased. They are no longer rare and that is the worrying part for citizens. It should also be a matter of concern to the government and the law enforcement agencies, but the latter have shown no such apprehension. Goa needs to be made safer, the Goans have to feel safe in their State. Unless the police are able to ensure this, their image that has taken a beating will not be redeemed.
