PANJIM: Goa Women’s Forum (GWF) has sought an inquiry into permissions granted to the country’s first legal sex store at Calangute, which was shut after raging controversy.
In a letter to the North Goa District Collector Ajit Roy, GWF pointed out that the store claiming to be India's first legal sex store opened in Calangute on February 14, 2021 but all permissions need to be investigated.
“Since yesterday (March 16, 2021) we have received many queries from parents, teachers, headmistresses and principals on whether GWF as a consumer rights organisation had any specific information on the legality of this sex store. Considering Goa being an international tourist destination such news of India's first legal sex store being set up in Goa creates the impression that a vendor licence has been granted by the Goa government for such a store to operate in North Goa District,” GWF convener Lorna Fernandes said.
As such, GWF has sought the intervention of the District Collector to verify whether any permissions / licences / NOCs have been issued by any government department by which this shop can be considered as “legal.”
GWF has also pointed out that as per the new Consumer Protection Act 2019, misleading Advertisements are now a punishable offence and therefore it is all the more important that this matter be tackled at the earliest.
In view of the forthcoming Budget Session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, GWF has sought an early response from the District Collector as it also said the news that has gone viral across the country is likely to have a social impact on the minds of parents and children in Goa.
The store, on Tuesday, pulled down its shutters after a controversy over its existence in the State. The GWF alleged that shutting down of the shop is merely eyewash and such stores should be permanently out of Goa’s boundaries.