Is there a law and order problem in Goa? As the State reels under a spate of crime – murder, kidnapping, rape – this question can only be answered in the affirmative. Even before the denizens of the State can recover from the news of one body discovered, there are three more for the law enforcement agencies to deal with. Never before has there been a death count of the number that is being counted within the space of a week. Goa has suddenly been swamped by an increase of what in legal terminology is termed as unnatural deaths. Unnatural deaths are registered when the investigation is at an early stage and there is no visible evidence of murder, suicide or other.
On a single day there were three bodies discovered in Bardez taluka, two of them being of Russian women and both in the same village, the third of a local man. Early investigations indicate that two could be cases of suicide while the third is still under investigation. These deaths come fast after the body of a young girl was washed ashore at Calangute last week and where investigations of the girl’s movements on the day she went missing are still inconclusive. Police are currently scouring the coastal belt for any information on the girl or any footage of her captured on closed circuit television cameras that dot the villages.
Last month after the Benaulim rape case, Goa Police were to have increased patrolling in the coastal areas so as to keep the people safe. Yet, they are unable to ascertain the girl’s movements in the hours before she died. With increased police patrolling, footage from closed circuit television cameras available for cross-reference the delay in tracing her movement is questionable. Besides, the investigations so far point to drowning, if that is so, did no one see the girl enter the water or were lifeguards not available to come to her rescue? Her body was washed ashore at Calangute, but till today the police are clueless as to where she entered the sea.
There have already been protest marches seeking justice for the girl whose body was found on Calangute beach. The parents are demanding a thorough probe. Teams have been formed to dig deeper into the case, yet there are few new leads that have been uncovered that can give a clearer picture of what transpired. If the police have any specific inputs of what has occurred, they should make it public before the speculation grows further. Family members have stated she was depressed and she was searching on Internet on re-infection of COVID. It has also now come to light that the viscera of the girl was not preserved before the body was handed over to the family for final rites, as there was no suspicion of foul play. Can there be some clarity on all this?
There is another aspect that cannot be overlooked in such cases, especially where foreigners are concerned. Goa has received bad media publicity whenever a foreigner has died in the State under suspicious circumstances. There are a number of such deaths where the investigation has been found wanting and relatives of the tourists who have died are following up the cases even years later. The most sensational was the death of Scarlett Keeling that ended with an acquittal of both the accused. Every tourist that has an ‘unnatural death’ in Goa dents the image of the State as a safe tourism destination. With Goa depending on the tourism industry for employment and revenue, this negative exposure can hit the industry badly. Security on the beaches is important; there can be no compromise on that.
