PANAJI
Between January 2014 and July 11, 2017, Goa Police registered a total of 41 cases of desecration of religious structures. Only two of these cases i.e. 4.8 per cent have resulted in conviction of the accused. In contrast to this, the acquittal rate is 7.3 per cent in such cases.
On the other hand, while 14 cases are still under investigation, 17 cases or 41 per cent of the cases have been closed following the submission of an ‘A Final' summary report by the police. ‘A-Final' summary report is filed before the magistrate to state that although the case is true, it remains undetected as there is no clue whatsoever about the culprits or when the accused is known but there is no evidence to justify a trial.
The details of these cases were provided by Chief Minister and Home Minister Manohar Parrikar in response to a question tabled by Margao MLA Digambar Kamat.
As per the data provided in the written reply, the conviction rate in cases of theft at religious places also stands at five per cent while the acquittal rate is six per cent. Of the 98 cases of theft at religious places reported since 2014, 53 per cent have been closed through an ‘A-Final' summary report.
The number of these two types of cases has shown a tremendous increase this year.
In 2016, only six cases of desecration were reported. As against this, 12 cases of desecration have been reported between May and July 11 this year.
The first case reported this year was in the month of May at Pernem Police station when six idols were found damaged at Veer Temple at Pokewada in Morjim. The case has been closed following an ‘A-Final' summary report. The remaining 11 cases are under investigation. Similarly, the number of thefts at religious places has gone up from 13 in 2016 to 18 in the first seven months of 2017.
