I live in the little village of Calata. As I step out of my front gate, I step into Betalbatim, so my neighbours come from both sides of the drain that demarcates the villages. And I usually spend some time sipping a cup of black tea or coffee at Anjona, a cafe run by my long time friend John Fernandes, where conversation among locals these days, hovers around how the age old peace and tranquility of village is undermined by tourists.
For me, the best part of the village is the twenty or so hectares of land abutting the beach, the northern part of which has come to be called the Sunset Beach, after a shack of that name being run there and the southern, ‘Lovers Beach,’ the preferred haunt of courting couples. The said stretch has remained pristine, unchanged and idyllic since my childhood. The only change is the screw pine cycads that formed a thick hedge, between the land and the sea, have been replaced, by casuarinas. The landscape continues to be overgrown, with underbrush and almost impenetrable, except for pathways cut through, by foraging animals and visitors. The thick foliage is what, attracts courting couples.
The primeval stretch of land has also become refuge for birds, displaced by “development” elsewhere in the village. I have spent hours in the vicinity and counted some sixty species of feathered avian in this haven, ranging from colourful peacocks, yellow wattle lapwings, blue jays, sun birds paradise flycatchers to the not so colourful pied bush chats, crested larks, ashy swallow shrikes and others.
But now, the even tenor of life has been disturbed by a sudden visit from Murphy’s Law. Something has definitely gone wrong. And horribly wrong too. The ambience which attracts birds and humans has also become a magnet for criminals. The beginning of the year saw the murder of one Barto from Colva. And just last week we are witnesses to a rape. And this is in addition to two or three other rapes, over the previous years. The victims are locals, the criminals, outsiders. A shadow of doubt and fear is now slowly creeping over the village. And a simmering anger too is brewing, with every wave that batters the sandy shore.
The police are being complimented, for a quick detection of the crime. Honestly, the police have done no great work as the accused in their naiveté and greed for money, practically walked into arms of the police. Nevertheless, a job well done. But something is seriously wrong, with the investigation.
The accused, admittedly were unknown, to the victim and the witness. In such cases, the witnesses are required to identify the accused in a parade held before a magistrate with four to five persons of similar height, built, looks and age to the accused. The accused is then made to take his place anywhere he chooses, in the group. The witness later identifies the accused (or fails to) from among them. It is a pre-requisite of a parade that the witness must not see the accused or his photograph prior to the parade. Hence the accused is concealed under a hood. To my surprise, within twenty-four hours of the arrest of the accused, social media is plastered with photos of the accused. And no identification parade in sight. Considering that the accused are not from Goa and have no local contacts, the only way these old photographs could have got into public forum is through a lapse by the police. Is it deliberate or planned to derail the investigations? It is a very serious lacuna that needs to be investigated, as the accused will certainly argue in the course of the trial that the identification was faulty, as their pictures were on public display.
But not everything is lost. We learn that the police have seized the video recording of the incident which was made to blackmail the victim and her fiancé, for extortion. Now, if the seizure has been properly done as mandated under sec.27 of the Criminal Procedure Code, then the lapse in the release of the photos of the accused could be overcome. Hopefully the recovery panchanama has been carefully drawn and the panchas are persons of character and integrity, who will not turn hostile on the stand as is otherwise, often the case.
We also hear that the accused are required, in some other offences, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The police from that State have reportedly made a request, for transfer of the accused. My information is that, in M.P. the ‘escape velocity’ of criminals is pretty high. What happens, if the criminals once shifted to Indore escape outdoor? Will the Goa Police ever be able, to lay hands on them again?
What exactly is the way out to prevent notorious elements, from creating havoc in our villages? Perhaps the answer lies in what I saw, on a visit to Panchgani and Mahableshwar, where every outstation vehicle and visitor is required to pay an entry fee, to the municipality. Thus, a record of all visitors is maintained and income too is generated. Such a practice could deter tourists with criminal intent, from coming to the beach, for fear of being identified. The fee could be charged only to visitors to the beach (and not for every entry into the village) which would not be difficult at all, as there are specific roads leading to the beaches.
(Radharao F. Gracias is a senior Trial Court Advocate, a former Independent MLA, and a political activist)
