PANAJI: Civil society organisations and concerned individuals, who met in the city on Thursday to take stock of increasing sexual violence against
women and children in the state, demanded that the government carry out mapping of unsafe places in Goa in consultation with women and children and take correctional measures accordingly.
Participants said Goa has seen a series of molestation, rape, sex trafficking and murder cases linked with tourism in the last few months.
“We consider it shameful that 322 rapes were registered in the last four years and the conviction rate in Goa has been as low as 1.86 per cent in the same period,” a joint statement issued later stated.
Condemning the gang rape at
Betalbatim, sexual assaults on minors prior to and post this incident, and the most recent sexual assault on a minor girl at
Calangute by nine tourists from Pune, they said, “We have observed that adequate measures are not taken to make places safe for women and children. Instead of scaling up prevention measures and conviction rates, the freedom and mobility of women are clamped down.”
They also alleged that collection of evidence, medical examination, forensic, fingerprinting, proper recording of seizures, protection of witnesses and proper recording of statements is not consistent. “If perpetrators are influential, police often pressure complainants to settle or compromise,” they said.
They demanded for a fully-equipped forensic laboratory with new cutting-edge and emerging technologies to provide necessary links and forensic reports for locating, apprehending and convicting criminals.
Representative image