Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: The state of affairs persisted in 2021, with Goa and the Union Territories of Ladakh, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry being the only States without a single conviction.
The situation was repeated in the most recent calendar year, 2022, with Goa and Arunachal Pradesh failing to secure any convictions.
During these three years, the Goa Police registered only 11 cases of sexual offenses; however, approximately 10 cases remained pending trial until the end of 2020. As of March 2023, Goa’s cumulative backlog of cases pertaining to the prevention of children from sexual offenses stood at 43, exceeding the number of cases that had been resolved cumulatively, which stood at 30.
This may come as a disappointment to learn that Goa and Ladakh, both States that are part of the Union Territory, are the only ones in the nation that have not been able to obtain even one conviction for sexual offenses against minors during the three-year period from 2020 to 2022. While Goa had fewer cases under this particular crime category in 2020 and 2021, Ladakh had none.
Data presented in the Lok Sabha indicates that Goa and Arunachal Pradesh had similar records in 2020, with both states failing to secure any convictions in spite of having comparatively fewer cases registered than other States and Union Territories.