MARGAO: While Canacona Police have not registered any grave criminal case in 2023, however there has been an increase in accident and traffic violation cases registered last year.
As per figures provided by the police station, as on December 10 last year, not a single murder, attempt to murder or rape case was reported while in 2022, there were three murders, one attempt to murder and two rape cases registered.
In 2022, not a single case of night burglary or house theft was registered, but last year four night burglaries and three house thefts were registered of which only one house theft was detected.
There was only one case of chain snatching registered last year while none were registered in 2022. On the other hand not a single auto theft was registered last year while in 2022, two were registered, of which one was detected. And as against the four other thefts registered in 2022, last year only three were registered and all were detected.
In 2023, two cases of kidnapping along with one case of assaulting a public servant were registered while in 2022 not a single such case was registered. Incidentally the assault on public servant was the case where a PSI and Head Constable were assaulted.
There has been an increase in accidents in Canacona as 10 accident cases and 6 fatal accident cases were registered last year while in 2022, nine accident and four fatal accident cases were registered.
There was a drop in cases registered against people gambling in public places as only 23 such cases were registered last year as against 26 registered in 2022.
Canacona police registered only two cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act last year, which is the same number of cases that were registered in 2022 under the Act.
While it is quite common to see beggars at different places in Canacona, surprisingly not a single case was registered against begging in public last year as well as in 2022.
A senior police officer at Margao disclosed that police generally refrain from booking these cases due to the trouble involved. “The beggars have to be fed by the police and then deported back to their native place, which not only means spending money but also a lot of trouble as the beggars have to be medically examined too before being deported,” he said.
Canacona police registered fewer cases against people causing nuisance in public places by smoking or spitting. In 2023, only 438 cases of smoking in public places were registered as against 578 booked in 2022. While not a single case of spitting in public places were booked last year, though in 2022, there were 205 such cases registered. Even cases booked under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act have dropped as last year 129 cases were booked as against the 156 that were booked in 2022 under this Act.
Canacona Police have been very active in booking cases against people violating the Motor Vehicles Act as last year 5,923 such cases were booked as against the 4,313 cases booked in 2022. The amount collected by way of fines from such offenders has also increased as it was Rs 30.79 lakh last year while it was only Rs 13.94 lakh in 2022.
