Beach unsafe: A year since Betalbatim rape

COLVA: A year has passed since the Betalbatim gram sabha adopted a resolution to make the beach safer for visitors after a 20-year-old was gangraped by three men from Madhya Pradesh at knifepoint.
The beach was to be electrified, brought under CCTV surveillance, cleared of undergrowth and bushes. Three gates were to be erected at main entrances to the beach stretch, with warning boards and police patrolling on two-wheelers. So far, only the warning boards and two highmast lamps have been erected. Police patrolling takes place erratically and the last one was done after the suicide bombing of the Sri Lanka churches, said a source in the police.
Sarpanch Constancio Miranda said that two highmast lamps were commissioned at two sites in December last and January this year. The work is progressing but due to the model code of conduct it was delayed, but he is following up with the Goa Tourism Development Corporation, he said.
Another hurdle before the panchayat is that the property where the gangrape occurred is privately owned and the landlords have not yet given an NoC.
On May 24, 2018, between 9.20pm and 10.50pm at Sunset Beach, accused Ram Bariya (19), Sanjeev Pal (23) and Ishwar Makwana (27) all from Indore, Madya Pradesh, restrained the 20-year-old girl and forced her friend to hand over the keys of the scooter and robbed their belongings. The three accused assaulted him and thereafter they took turns at sexually assaulting the victim.
The accused then forced the survivor’s friend to strip naked and clicked their pictures and recorded them. They then demanded Rs 10,500. The accused are charged under various sections of the IPC.
In December 2018, the main accused Ishwar Makwana escaped from police custody while admitted in a hospital and it is yet to be traced.
Accused Ram Bariya was declared a minor while the deposition of the victim was being recorded and his case is now transferred to the children’s court, while the trial against accused Sanjeev Pal is being heard in the sessions court in Margao.