Goa, one of the best, beautiful, and favorite tourist destinations in India are not as safe as it used to be for women with the increase in cases of sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence, etc.
The police data in the state has revealed that at least four cases of crime against women are reported every week since 2017.
According to the data, over 1,000 such cases have been registered from 2017 to 2021. Over 200 cases have been registered every year except in 2020 when Goa was under Covid Lockdown.
In fact, around 286 rape cases have been registered in the various police stations across Goa over the past four years.
A senior police officer of the state said that in most cases, the accused persons are known to the victim. They are either their family members or neighbors. He added that in most cases the accused persons have already been arrested.
Many women from other states who might have visited Goa have also lodged complaints regarding the same.
“Goa has a substantial migrant and tourist population, crimes committed by them add to the overall crime figures for Goa”, a senior police officer said.
For example, a woman from Delhi alleged that the owner of a popular beachside restaurant in Calangute had raped her and the complaint was lodged with the Delhi police.
In order to curb this, the Goa State Commission for Women was set up a committee with three advocates to hear and dispose of the pending cases.
The cases have not dropped and new cases keep registering with the committee. The committee takes a lot of steps to make sure that all the cases are addressed.
Apart from this, other measures are also taken such as tourist police, deployed on the beaches, response quickly to incidents related to women, 1091 helpline addresses complaints related to such incidents and PCR vans patrolling the towns and villages respond to emergencies in ‘record time’.
