The arrest of a 36-year-old man who allegedly kidnapped and raped a 16-year-old girl at a hotel in Calangute, has opened a Pandora’s box where adherence to rules by hotels and guesthouses are concerned. According to reports, the accused man, hailing from Umta Vaddo, Calangute, kidnapped the teenaged girl from Assagao, the village in which she resides, warned her of dire consequences, took her to a hotel room in Calangute, and subsequently raped her.
Although the alleged crime took place late last month, the girl informed her family of it only this month. But even after her family members approached the police on April 3 to lodge a complaint and after doctors confirmed that the girl was indeed raped, the police are yet to take any action against the owner of the hotel to which the accused man took the girl. Interestingly, police sources disclosed to reporters that when the accused man took the girl to the hotel, he told the receptionist that the girl was his daughter. Therefore, it is to be construed that the man was given a room without being asked for photo identification of both, him and the girl by the hotel operator.
If this did in fact happen, it is not only an absolute violation of the laws in force – which mandate that every hotel and guest house, notwithstanding categories, must seek valid photo identification of all their guests before providing accommodation – but also enables all sorts of crimes to take place, particularly sexual assault.
What further emboldens establishments to flout the rules is either lethargy or lack of will by the police force to bring errant operators to task. In the present case, the red tape revolves around jurisdiction for police action. While the Calangute police (in whose jurisdiction the crime occurred) said they would book the hotel operator only after the Anjuna police (from whose jurisdiction the girl was kidnapped) filed a complaint against the accused man, a police officer maintained that a first information report must nevertheless be filed against the hotel operator because the mandatory rule of seeking identification documents from guests was flouted. The officer also said that it is the duty of the police to seek cancellation of the hotel’s license to operate. The cop is reported to have rightfully said, “Rape is a heinous crime and the owner has to be booked for dereliction of duty since the crime has occurred at his resort.”
Unfortunately, while the police department continues to scrutinize the rule book and pass the buck, the ultimate sufferer is the survivor and her family. The absence of decisive action and the piecemeal punishment doled out could also serve to embolden other hotels and guest houses to continue violating the law where identification proofs of guests are concerned, thereby giving perpetrators that much more convenience to commit such crimes and other illegalities. In a bid to make fast money, many accommodation facilities, particularly small-time units, are known to let out their rooms to anyone and everyone without thinking twice about the likely repercussions.
“If a place is given to a criminal where a child is sexually abused, the owner must be booked. It amounts to violation of the Goa Children’s Act. There is a specific legislation under which the owner can be jailed for three years for letting out his premises for illegal activity,” a child rights activist is reported to have said. Rightfully so.
It is time the law enforcement agencies pull up their socks or be prepared to be caught with their pants down if there is a spike in the commission of such crimes.