PANAJI
A disturbing trend of crimes against women and underage girls has emerged with five cases reported in just four days. While most of these incidents occurred in the past they were recently reported to the police.
To begin with was a molestation case when on September 16, a mother accused a man of inappropriately touching her minor daughter while she was walking on the road. The incident occurred on September 13 in the Mardol jurisdiction, and the accused was arrested.
On September 17, a rape survivor accused 20-year-old Bhago alias Kiran Pavane of Sattari of developing a friendly relationship with her and then forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him by threatening her with dire consequences. The accused also allegedly assaulted her on multiple occasions between November 2022 and the present. He was arrested.
On the same day, the Canacona police received a complaint that an accused had uttered abusive language, outraging the modesty of a minor child and passed sexually coloured remarks. Although no arrest was made, the police served notice to the accused.
On September 18, a father reported that his minor daughter had been kidnapped from his lawful guardianship. The Ponda police were quick to rescue the girl and arrest the accused from South Goa.
In another case, a mother and daughter alleged that they had been sexually assaulted for about five years, and only recently lodged a complaint. The woman accused Francisco Xavier Morais of Quepem of forcefully sexually assaulting her and her 15-year-old minor daughter between April 2019 and September 14, 2024, showing pornography videos to the minor against her will and threatening to circulate their nude videos and photographs on social media sites. The accused was arrested and placed in police remand.
The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) 2022 report revealed 268 cases wherein 284 females were victims. Of these, 75 were rape victims, 90 were victims of outraging modesty and 31 cases of insult to the modesty. A total of 60 cases of kidnapping and abduction were registered.
The State also saw the highest rate of rape of minors in the country at 7.1. Of 57 under-age victims, two girls were below 6 while 12 were between 6 to 12 years, 26 were between 12 to 16 years and 17 victims were between 16 to 18 years of age.
The report also revealed a rise in overall crimes against women over the past three years. In 2020, there were 219 reported cases, which increased to 224 in 2021 and 273 in 2022. The rate of total crime against women stood at a concerning 35.1.
