Goemkarponn Desk
Panaji: 100s of Goans got together and protested the Sawant Sarkars bad handling of the death of the young girl from Guirim and his failure to protect girls and women in Goa. There was palpable anger at what Goans across the state felt was an increasing unwillingness of the Sawant Sarkar to take any steps to protect women. Sawant’s statements and inaction on past cases seems to be emboldening criminal elements in Goa. The Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Rahul Mhambre addresses the crowd and slammed this attitude of the Sawant Sarkar & highlighted how lack of infrastructure like CCTVs impacted safety. AAP also demanded that a CBI enquiry be conducted in this case.
Over the past month Goa has unfortunately seen a number of cases of crimes against women which have shaken the state that is often considered safe for women. The Govt despite seeing the pain of Goans and the shock expressed by them has instead doubled down and made statements that either put the victims in poor light or make light of their plight. In the present case at the Calangute police station, Sawant Sarkar has not made any statements empathising with the family nor shown any support for what they have been going through. Rather than ensuring that there was faith in the investigation statements were made attributing the case to be “a drowning” even though no complete investigation had taken place. It was only after a hue and cry took place that the police began looking at the victims phone.
CMP Pramod Sawant who holds the Home portfolio is directly responsible for this slide into crime! Shockingly it was found that none of the CCTV cameras in Calangute were operational. The same case can be found in Mapusa where the girl waited at a bus stop. Infact CCTVs in Goa serve a more ornamental than security purpose in Goa as many a times they are found to not be working. This effectively means they don’t serve as a deterrent and this impacts the safety of women all over Goa. The Sawant Sarkar is too busy in campaigning to provide security to Goans
It may be remembered that in the recent rape of two minors from Benaulim the Sawant Sarkar instead of empathising with the victims went on record in the assembly to blame the victims family. This brought ridicule on the Govt and shame to Goa. In the case of the Quepem rape case no significant statement was made at all.
“First we saw the horror in Benaulim and now we are seeing this case in Calangute. The fact of the matter is that the Govt has abdicated its responsibility to protect Goans and women in Goa” said AAP Goa Convenor Rahul Mhambre. “In Benaulim they blamed parents, in Calangute they say their CCTVs dont work. Crime is increasing daily in Goa but where are the CCTVs? They have become ornaments. Moreover statements are being made on cases without complete investigation taking place. Sawant has failed Goa! He must hand over this case to the CBI” added Mhambre