Eleven years ago, the body of a British teenager was found under mysterious circumstances. Young and
enthusiastic, Scarlett Keeling faced a brutal death. Scarlett’s mother Fiona
Mackeown had alleged that her daughter was drugged raped and murdered. The
incident of Scarlet Keeling was buried for a long time and finally the accused
Samson D’Souza has been convicted by the High Court of Bombay at Goa. Hearing
the news, a new hope arose among many, especially the family members of the
other victims Denyse Sweeney, Stephen Bennett, and Felix Dahl.
“All the victims should get justice, also no tourists who come
to Goa should feel unsafe in future, we need to make our Goa feel safe for all
of them,” says Rosy Rosario from Panjim who has been doing follow ups on the
tourists murder cases in Goa.
However, bringing other factors to mind, most of the murder and
sexual assault cases have either been a mystery or linked to drugs. Mystery,
agreed. But drugs?
For instance, take the case of Denyse Sweeney- It was said that
she had most likely died from a drugs overdose, but the family believe that she
was murdered after 20 unexplained marks were found on her body. Whether it was
linked to drugs is still a question.
Speaking to the mother of Felix Dahl, Minna Pirhonen said that
she found it strange that in the autopsy of some of the dead tourists that are
claimed by Goa police to have died because of drugs did not actually have any
drugs in their body. In her opinion, it is generally claimed that the deaths
are linked to drugs, because most present come to Goa to smoke cannabis, and it
is freely available everywhere, but it definitely doesn’t mean that it is true.
“Felix had no drugs. Denyse Sweeney had no drugs, although Goa
police claimed Denyse’s death was an overdose,” states Pirhonen.
“In a second autopsy Denyse was found to have a lethal wound in
her head, just like Felix. I do not think the deaths are directly linked to
drugs, I think they are to do with the fact that there are violent people
including locals who beat and harm tourists and other locals,” she adds
Coming to the part of mysterious deaths, they are mysterious
only because in cases, the police did not investigate them properly. It was
noted that only the cases that are taken to CBI by the families are
investigated.
Likewise, Dr Meenacshi Martins, actor, activist and psychiatrist
gives her honest opinion to the latest updates about Scarlet’s case saying that
it’s a good thing the person was convicted, but they could have worked better
on the case. “I wish they had studied the case in depth, because if you see
there are a lot of matters which are unclear. Firstly she was underage, the
girl shouldn’t have been left alone, and she should have been under parental
guidance. It was wrong to take advantage of such a young girl who was
abandoned. If a better work was done on the investigation it would have given
us an idea on why these problems happen in Goa,” she shares.
Suggesting strong options for justice, Minna Pirhonen says that
it would be better to educate the police, investigate the crimes and punish the
guilty ones, and remove them from the society so they cannot prey on new
tourists or even innocent locals. Only that would result in trust among many
high end tourists who are now avoiding Goa.
Many tourists admit that there are many Goan people with killed
and murdered relatives too, whose deaths the police have not investigated.
Trusha Panvelkar, a local entrepreneur shares her opinion where
she highly awaited the Judgement in Scarlet rape case. “With the conviction of
the main accused the High court has shown that justice in this country prevails
unequivocal for everybody even including foreign nationals and international
tourists,” she concludes.
But
to restore the confidence of those who visit Goa and others who live here,
especially in the volatile and pulsating coastal belt, what will matter are not
just convictions or judicial justice. All Goa needs is an environment where
those who come here are not killed, drugged or die of overdose. It’s the
biggest image and PR disaster and a critical downer for a sate which functions
on tourism.
