Following to the in incident of gang rape of 2 Delhi girls at resort in Calangute by 5 men, the minister for tourism Dilip Parulekar issued the statement in the press saying that the Accused were Naive and Petty Criminals. This statement went viral on the net and in print media creating the huge controversy. “Such stray incidents are bound to take place in busy tourist destinations like Goa,” Parulekar said reacting to the incident while speaking to media last night, “The boys are ‘nadaan’ (naive) and they have small crimes registered against them…This will not happen in future,” he said.
The statement of this kind was bound to send the wrong message out, as the minister of tourism himself claiming that this kind of incident will not happen in future while giving the certificate of “Naadan” & “Petty Criminals” to the rapist. On top of this while asked by the media whether this incident has spoilt the Goa’s Reputation minister replied saying “The women involved were not Goan, they were from Delhi.” Now this could be considered as the height of volatility.
Two girls from Delhi came down to Goa to spend some quality time here and while they were travelling in a taxi the group of 5 people posing as Police Officers stopped them on the way and assaulted them along with the taxi driver. Subsequently 5 accused took the girls to a resort in calangute and raped them repeatedly for two days. The accused also took them to a flat posing at Anti Narcotic Cell before being raped. According to the sources all the accused were attached to a night club which was demolished by a mob few months ago after it was found to be harboring the prostitution activities.
Returning to the statement of tourism minister of Goa, which led to raise the sharp criticism from the opposition parties in Goa “such a statement would provoke criminals to commit more such crimes in the state.” Said the Goa Pradesh Congress committee secretary Urfan Mulla “Goa is becoming unsafe every passing day, The Tourism minister’s statement needs to be condemned out rightly,” he added. NCP Goa spokesman Trajano D’Mello has demanded action against Parulekar for his statement. “The statement indicates the psyche of the minister. He is supporting the accused. We can’t expect justice to the victims,” he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party did not left behind in this; they also condemned the frivolous manner in which the minister for tourism Dilip Parulekar, who is also the minister for women and child development, had downplayed the gang rape of two Delhi-based girls. The party has demanded that the government should take the strict action against the accused. The party went on to demand that the government take strict action against the accused. “The audacity of the crime is shocking but even bigger is the audacity of the minister in downplaying the crime,” AAP convener Rajeshsree Nagarsekar said.
“AAP Goa not only demands an immediate apology from the minister, but the BJP-led government should sack him from his post as a minister to send a signal that “such a laissez-faire attitude towards heinous crimes, and particularly those against women, will not be tolerated,” the party said. The party alleged that such repeated irresponsible statements of politicians encourage perpetrators of such crimes and influence the police to take these crimes lightly.
Source: PTI
