Goa government seeks to empower cops to arrest to-be vandals sans warrant

PANAJI: The state cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment that empowers police officers to arrest without warrant any person who is “about to commit” any defacement of public property.
The Goa Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1998 (amendment) Bill, 2020, will also let cops arrest without warrant anyone who disfigures, destroys or demolishes public property, as well as make them compensate the state for the loss.
An official said that the Act was originally brought in to prevent the defacement of public property. However, in the absence of appropriate (preventive) provisions, vandals can easily commit these offences, he said.
Thus, the bill seeks to add Section 3A to recover losses. While the Act’s Section 6 categorizes offences under the law as cognisable and bailable, an amendment has been proposed that makes these violations cognisable and non-bailable.
The official said that the amendment to the Act has been sought in order to inculcate discipline and a sense of responsibility among the public. If the bill passes, members of the public engaging in defacement will be made to pay the loss as quantified by the district collector, who will fix the amount after obtaining a report from PWD and issuing a show cause notice to the vandal.
After affording the person a hearing, the collector will then direct them to pay for the loss incurred by the government or any other person.