Valpoi PI suspended, women station PI shunted over rape FIR delays

PANAJI: After TOI last week reported on the alleged reluctance of cops to file FIRs in two cases involving the rape of minor girls, Goa police on Saturday suspended the Valpoi police inspector (PI) and transferred the PI of the women police station. Additionally, the PIs of Agassaim and the women police station have been issued showcause notices.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant told TOI, "We will not tolerate delays in the registration of cases. If PIs are involved in such lapses, strict action will be taken."
Following last week's TOI report, Goa police had ordered an inquiry, with DGP Jaspal Singh saying that systems and processes will be further streamlined to avoid such occurrences.
TOI had reported that in at least two cases, police stations in North Goa - including the women police station - had dithered in registering rape cases. The survivors in both instances were Class X students.
While one case was finally registered after the intervention of senior police officers, the other has not yet been registered even after the Victim Assistance Unit (VAU) and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) stepped in. In the first case, the minor was raped by her father four times and had to go through multiple abortions. When she disclosed the sexual abuse to her school counsellor, she took her to the women police station, Panaji.
A woman officer at the station told her to take her exams and then attend to the FIR formalities. “My complaint was not taken up,” the survivor said in her statement. In the second case, the accused and the survivor were friends, and nude photos of the girl were in the possession of the accused. The accused called her to an isolated place on the pretext of deleting the photos in her presence but raped her. Police were reluctant to register the case, but senior officers later directed the inspector concerned to register it.