Magistrate orders compulsory verification; violators to face punishment under Sec 188
PANAJI
Amidst Goa Police’s crackdown on migrants illegally staying in Goa, the District Magistrate, North Goa has issued a public notice directing the residential and hotel owners to carry out the verification, failing which they will be liable for legal action.
The order, which has been notified by the Home Department, cites a report by the Superintendent of Police, North Goa District Nidhin Valsan that claims criminals intending to commit a crime in Goa, usually check into a hotel or rent a place under fictitious names and submit bogus contact details. This makes the law enforcement agency go through a tough time tracking the culprits, who escape after committing the crime.
“…It becomes difficult to identify culprits, as the details furnished by them to the hotels, and landlords are found fictitious/bogus. Anti-social/criminal or undesirable elements can camouflage their identity for their operations, which may be illegal/immoral and which may be required to be contained/regulated and as hotel owners/landlords tend to rent out premises without verifying the antecedents of the person and information to local police,” reads the order by District Magistrate, North, Mamu Hage.
Acknowledging the need to undertake preventive action, Hage has ordered ‘all the owners of the houses, buildings, flats and other residential accommodation and the owners/management of all hotels, lodging and boarding, shacks, private guest houses, paying guest accommodation of religious bodies, etc to verify the bonafide of the persons through their proof of identity issued by the government and make necessary arrangements to enter the details of customers/visitors in the PATHIK (Program for Analysis of Traveler and Hotel Informatic) software prepared by police.’
The order further directs that no landlords/ tenants/ owner/ person should let/sublet/or rent out any accommodation to any person unless particulars of the tenants are submitted to the Police In-Charge of the concerned area.
“The In-Charges of such accommodation shall provide such facilities for inspection of the maintenance of record in the above said software by the police authorities or any other authority authorised by the undersigned, if so desired by them,” reads the notification as the order comes into force for 60 days from December 5, 2022. The violators, it further states, will face punishment under Section 188 of IPC.
