Days after three Madhya Pradesh brutally assaulted a girl in Goa by raping her in front of her boyfriend, the police in the western coastal state of India have arrested 11 tourists from Pune after they were accused of molesting and clicking photos of a minor girl.
Those arrested are identified Ramesh Kamble, Sanket Bhadale, Krishna Patil, Satyam Lambe, Aniket Gurav, Rishikesh Gurav, Akash Suvaskar, Sunny More, and Ishwar Pangare. Two of the 11 accused were juveniles, aged 15, and they were sent to a state-run protection home, Dalvi said.
Nine of them have been sent to judicial custody. “Judicial Magistrate First Class at Mapusa remanded the nine accused to five-day judicial custody and were sent to a correction facility at Colvale in North Goa district,” Calangute police inspector Jivba Dalvi was quoted by PTI.
According to police, they filed an FIR invoking Sections 143, 147, 323, 354 read with 149 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 8 of the Goa Children’s Act. The police said that the nine accused had molested a minor before assaulting her minor brother at the popular beach village of Baga in North Goa.
A report by PTI said that the siblings — 17-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister — were sitting in a shack on Tuesday on the Baga beach while their parents were having food nearby.
At that time, a group of 11 visitors from Pune started clicking pictures of the girl, Calangute police station’s Jivba Dalvi said, adding that this amounts to outraging her modesty.
“When the boy objected to the group taking photos of his sister, they allegedly slapped and beat him,” he said, quoting a complaint filed by the victims’ parents.
Dalvi added, “The accused were caught while attempting to flee Goa. We have seized the mobile phone on which girl’s pictures were taken. It will be sent for forensic examination.”
Earlier this week, police in Goa had arrested all three tourists from Madhya Pradesh hours after they allegedly stripped, photographed and gang-raped a 20-year-old girl in south Goa in front of her boyfriend.
Goa’s Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai had tweeted stressing that the quality of tourists ought to have been the focus for the state. He wrote, “Kudos to @PoliceGoa for quickly cracking Betalbatim Gang Rape Case with the arrest of all 3 accused from Madhya Pradesh. A case of blackmail, rape & robbery by “tourists” ! I have always stressed that quality of tourists should be our focus !Only then can #Goa be safe & forward!”
