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Goa's tourist police cracks down on sex offenders
October 10, 2004
Panaji - Rave parties, urchins with foreigners and youngsters begging or
selling wares on the beach will come under the sharp vigil of Goa's tourist
police in a crackdown on child sex abuse in this popular seaside resort.
Stung by persistent criticism of its inability to curb child sex abuse, Goa
Police has announced plans to reorient the work of its 18-year-old tourist
police force and sharpen its brief.
With some 80 personnel, the tourist police force mans the 70-km beach belt
lining the state of 1.4 million people.
This unusual police force was set up in 1986 at a time when the state was just
launching major tourism expansion plans, and Euro charter flights -- then only
from Germany -- were beginning to arrive.
Currently Goa, one of the most popular holiday destinations in India known for
its joie de vivre and sunny beaches, receives some two million tourists each
year.
Many of them are affluent foreigners who set up camp in and around the beaches.
Goa's Director General of Police (DGP) Amod Kanth said the tourist police had
been called upon to "put the fear of god" in offenders and ensure that the
beaches were clean of any deviant activity.
"The tourist police will work with our Women and Child Protection Unit and
child juvenile welfare officers to crack down on any case of child abuse,"
Kanth said here.
The police are aware that a large number of foreign tourists visit Goa in the
search of pleasure and enjoyment, and the mode of pleasure is not always clean
and harmless fun.
"Some tourists, who may be gay, also indulge in paedophilic activities,"
admitted Kant, but insisted paedophilia, or child sex abuse, was not as rampant
in Goa as made out by sections of the media.
Police statistics say that out of 26 rape cases reported in Goa between January
and September this year, some 12 were minors and many under age 10.
Kanth said children most vulnerable to abuse, like street urchins and the
mentally or physically challenged, would be sent to state-run homes as one of
the measures to curb such crime.
Children seen flocking around foreigners for gifts and alms would also be taken
into protective custody, while those under 14 years of age selling small wares
on the beach would also be kept under close surveillance by the tourist police.
Foreigners moving with Indian children would "have to be immediately
questioned," continued Kanth, and any child going into a hotel where foreigners
stay would catch the attention of the police.
Kanth said action would also be taken against "rave parties" - parties where
people do drugs.
"If rave parties become a hub of illegal activities, we will take strong
action."
So far, the tourist police have been mainly booked locals and petty criminals
under the Goa Tourism Trade Act of 1982, on grounds like cheating and
impersonation.
Kanth felt the fine for these crimes was too small at Rs.2,000. Besides, the
Goa Children's Act enacted in 2003 is yet to be put to test, with a conviction
was yet to be handed under this law.
Last year, the tourist police booked 131 people under the anti-smoking and
anti-spitting laws of this state. But that has not been enough to curb crimes,
raising criticism against the tourist police personnel.
"They are police, not tourist guides," defended Kanth. "Though the tourist
police has powers, they have to be in a different mould."
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