There has been a significant increase in the number of cases registered by the police at the 16 police stations in South Goa under the minor acts and social legislations. During the first three months of the present calendar as many as 1,04,760 such cases are reported while last year during the same period only 12,105 cases were reported.
Incidentally, in both years all cases were detected except one case and in both years the only case not be detected was the one booked against persons for defacement of public property.
Police have tightened the screws on drug users as this year 34 cases have been reported under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, while last year only three such cases were reported. This year the police picked up 131 persons for begging while last year only 62 were picked up for begging.
While both Margao Town Police Station and Verna Police Station booked two cases each under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act last year, none of the 16 police stations had a single such crime reported.
The police have come down heavily on smoking and spitting in public places this year. While 5121 cases were booked this year under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, last year only 223 such cases were booked.
Interestingly, while 3431 persons were booked for either smoking or spitting in public places this year, last year there were only 27 such persons booked. As against 42 cases booked under the Garbage Act last year, this year 5492 such cases have been booked.
Police have also been booking cases under the Motor Vehicles Act in addition to the cases booked by the Traffic Cell of the Goa Police. In South Goa in the last three months 35,145 cases have been booked under the Motor Vehicles Act as against the 2,819 booked last year.
Migrants staying in Goa are also under the police scanner and in the last three months 25,210 T forms that are also called stranger forms have been filled by the police in South Goa as against the 5,427 filled last year during the same period.
This year as many as 24,309 of these forms have been sent to the concerned police stations to get the record of the migrant living in Goa as against the only 2,559 forms that were sent last year.
“This filling of the stranger forms and sending them to the home State of the migrant has given a very good result as migrants with a criminal background are leaving Goa or stay away from criminal activities as they know they are being watched,” said Superintendent of Police South Arvind Gawas.
Incidentally, South Goa Police have also registered cases against 372 landlords who had not submitted the stranger forms of the people they had kept on rental basis in their premises. Last year not a single case was booked under this provision of law for violation of the order of the Collector.
The number of cases booked under the Criminal Procedure Code too has risen this year as compared to last year. 395 cases were booked under Section 107 of the CrPC as against the 335 booked last year. Incidentally cases are booked under Section 107 for causing breach of peace.
Police booked 317 persons under Section 109 of CrPC whereby they had to sign a good behaviour bond for one year before the Collector as against the 120 such cases booked last year. And this year 22 persons had to sign good behaviour bond for three years as they were booked under Section 110 of CrPC for repeating offence while last year only 4 such cases were booked.
Police have also started booking cases under Section 145 of CrPC that pertains to causing disturbance to people due to property dispute. This year 24 such cases were booked as against the 9 that were booked last year.
