09 Oct 2021 | 06:30am IST
Goa has become a state where you get away with murder
- A politically controlled
state police apparatus has the image of going soft on crime and criminals
- There’s a very long list of
murders and rapes but a very short list of those who have been caught by law
Murders, gang wars and rapes have
almost become a part of Goa’s daily existence. There are so many families that
are heartbroken and fighting for justice for their sons, daughters or parents
and other loved ones.
At the same time the deaths of so
many foreigners whose family members and their support groups are convinced
they have been killed, and are fighting long drawn out battles for justice.
Herald Insight
has been at the forefront of joining all grieving
loved ones in their quest for justice. But sadly, the state has not been. None
of the major parties in power in Goa have made justice for the victims of crime
a priority. Case investigations go on for months and years. At times not a
single arrest is made. Take the case of Siddhi Naik the teenaged girl from
Nachinola whose semi-nude body was found in the waters of Calangute beach on
August 13 after she went missing the previous day.
Herald’s sustained coverage of
the manner of her death, the manner of the post-mortem report and the decision
not to preserve her viscera led to the setting up of a medical committee which
ordered a fresh look at the manner of her death. Her father who almost became a
detective running around the beaches trying to finds clues filed a murder
complaint on September 2. For a month and a half, an FIR for murder has not
been registered.
Even the CCTV footage from the
area near the beach on that night isn’t available because the CCTV cameras were
not functioning on that night.
Murder of Jeweller
Swapnil Valke in Margao, the fatal setting ablaze of Vilas Methar in Porvorim,
the double murder of contractor Minguel Miranda and his mother-in-law at
Fatorda, the day time supari killing of Amar Naik at Bogmolo and the deaths of
two Russian women are just some of the killings from 2020 onwards.
The calendar of rape
makes the blood of Goans boil
A minor girl raped in
Bicholim, two minor girls raped in Benaulim beach by four, one woman raped at
Usgao, a 13-year-old girl raped at Sattari, an infant raped by her father
are cases that have happened in Goa in less than two years since 2020. Yes, our
Goa. The whole country took to the streets when one young girl, named Nirbhaya
was brutalised and killed in Delhi. That shook the nation and bought about a
change in rape laws and punishment. In Goa, there are so many ‘Nirbhayas’ that
have happened. The rapists roam free.
In addition, there
are so many gang wars, abductions, fights over property that Goans are losing
count.
The gang war in
Calangute this week involved four history-sheeters. Swords and rods were
liberally used. And this did not happen in any remote area but right in the
heart of the most crowded tourist belt.
Why has Goa been allowed to be a
playground of crime? Why can’t ruling governments address this?
The answer is simple. The police
are not servants of people. They have become servants of politicians who decide
on transfers, postings of both senior and lower-level officials. Constables to
PIs are personal loyalists of politicians. Their master is an MLA or minister
and not the constitution or the crime book. When their entire energy is focused
on making life more lucrative for themselves and their masters, will they have
the time or inclination to solve crimes and give justice to the poor?
And it doesn’t matter which
government is in power. The politics in the police and the absence of justice
for the power has been felt across governments, in the 2000s.
Was Goa ever a state where people
felt unsafe or where justice could be bought?
Once upon a time, Goa was known
as a place where doors of homes were kept open, people left for other villages
or went on holidays keeping their homes unlocked with their neighbours looking
after them. Mothers and daughters took long walks on the beach in the late
evening and night. It is in the same Goa now where the parents of girls are
advised to monitor and keep a watch over them when they go out at nights.
Keep policing out of the hands of
politicians. Let it be done professionally
The current ruling parties have
kept a stronghold over the police only to misuse the uniformed police force for
their own political and other needs. Will Goans now demand a party that can
keep Goans safe, their homes and beaches safe, their streets and markets safe?
That can happen only when the ruling party decides to have an independent
police commission that is run by professionals. The powers of transfers
posting, investigations, modernisation and infrastructure should be in the
hands of this police commission.
Otherwise we will still have
cases where a jeweller in Margao is shot in broad daylight but their escape
could not be caught on camera because there were no functional CCTVs on the
streets of Margao. Will also no one ask why the CCTVs around Calangute beach
were not working when Siddhi Naiks’ body floated on the beach.
When the police did not insist on
the viscera of Siddhi Naik to be preserved, why has no one held the local
police and district police accountable? A police commission will ask
professional questions that political leadership will not.
Let us make our choices clear.
Will Goans realise that a good government is also a government that acts as a
good judge, a good protector and a good policeman?
Today Goans must ask the right
questions and be satisfied that the people they choose are the ones who pledge
to give them a Goa where the basic sense of safety and justice is not only
given but felt. That is totally lacking now.
