Never in the history of the Goa police, or lets confidentlyassume, in the history of India’s police, have we had a police team hunting forpolicemen who have repeatedly had sexual encounters with prostitutes, to linethem up for a identification parade. This will be followed by a quick dash tothe pathological laboratory for an HIV test, since one of the women who hastestified against them is HIV positive. The policemen have gone underground butthey remain in the service of the nation.
The time has come to jolt the sensibilities of Goans to makethem brutally aware of the kind of law keepers that we have. And this is theraw truth. A bunch of sex starved, lecherous and morality devoid policemen trade thegratification of their libidos with their professional need to do properpolicing. While cops indulge in all kinds of sexual escapades in policestations and police vans, prostitutes ply their trade on the streets of Baga,drugs get sold and bought, massage parlours offer happy endings – all this in asea of filth that this part of Goa has become.
A posting in Calangute has become prized. From constable toPI, the salary that they get from the taxes we pay is a tiny insignificant blipon their wealth graph, whose “kind” component of sexual favours nicelycompliments the cash component. This is proven by the number of FIRs, criminalcases, departmental inquiries against over 50 percent of Goa’s serving policemenas our Big Story on pages 16 and 17 details.
This is a well-knit system. The political class knows it,admits it and does nothing. The Calangute MLA Michael Lobo, who lives in thismess, says senior officers are involved as well. That’s stating the absoluteobvious. He says they should be brought into the ambit of investigations. Weknow that? Calangute has had a murky history of MLA Agnelo Fernandes,pretending to cry hoarse over drugs and prostitution in Calangute, butincapable or perhaps unwilling to get his own government to move an inch.Michael Lobo seems to be heading the same way. Why should Calangute continue toelect ruling party MLAs who cannot move their own governments to clean up. Theanswer again lies in the fact that politicians deeply involved in the localtourism businesses of Calangute become its MLAs.
It will beunreasonable to expect a turnaround easily, because the first step towards thisturnaround lies in the distancing of the law keepers from the breakers. It’s a very deep and intricate mesh whereeveryone feeds off each other. The pimp, prostitute, policemen and politiciannexus runs far too deep for any editorial or speech or policy announcement tochange it overnight. It needs on the ground hard action that sustains itself.Last December, it took a rare Director General of Police Aditya Arya topersonally lead a raid at a night club with handpicked policemen from outsidethe area, without informing the Calangute police station. Many women wearingidentical uniforms were found soliciting in the garb of serving liquor. Manygirls were rescued in a post-midnight swoop at a night club, which had obviouspolitical patronage. In a matter of weeks Aditya Arya was removed in an equallyswift operation and asked to hand over charge to his successor, who was flownin that very day. While other reasons, like delaying permission to theorganisers of Sunburn and the fictitious case of him moving out of Goa in hisofficial vehicle, were bandied about, Arya himself knows why he was moved out –because of his Calangute raid.
The tragedy is that even the established ideals of policingstruggle to be relevant when the public at large is unwilling or unable tostart a turnaround. The basis of all police reforms lies in the public becomingpolicemen. While the infamous nexus of law makers and law breakers keeps the systemgoing, the passive attitude of the public makes the system go unchallenged. Andthis fundamentally is why Calangute will remain the way it is.
As Arya himself said once, “Goa is not ready for honestpolicing”. This by far is the strongest indictment, not of Goa’s administrationbut of Goa’s people. Calangute, Baga, Morjim and adjoining places have becomeautonomous islands with their own laws and regulations. If we seek change, wethe people of Goa need to become the change we seek.
