MAPUSA
After a foreign woman was allegedly sexually harassed in full public view on Calangute beach on Wednesday, police registered an offence against two men for allegedly forcefully clicking photographs of the foreign female tourist and touching her inappropriately in front of Ocean Shack on Calangute beach.
The harassment of a foreign female tourist underscores once again the collapse of preventive policing along Goa’s busiest tourist belt, even as official claims of “round-the-clock security” continue.
The FIR was registered on the written complaint of Ladu Narayan Gad, an IRB constable attached to the Tourist Police Unit.
The accused have been identified as Akash Minaz (19), a resident of Calangute, and Dhayan Tappo (34), also a resident of Calangute, originally from Odisha.
Police stated that the two men, identified as Indian tourists, allegedly surrounded the woman, continued photographing her despite her objections, and touched her inappropriately in an open public space.
The offence has been registered under Section 75(1)(i) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
Notices under Section 35(3) of the BNS have been issued to both accused.
Significantly, police action came only after the incident was reported by the media, highlighting the increasingly reactive nature of enforcement on the State’s most frequented beaches.
Such incidents”foreign women being photographed, surrounded or touched without consent”have been repeatedly reported from Calangute and Baga, particularly during the peak tourist season.
Despite the presence of the Tourist Police and repeated assurances of heightened vigilance, visible patrolling remains inconsistent, allowing harassment to play out in open spaces without immediate intervention.
With Goa’s tourism economy heavily dependent on its international image, the incident raises a troubling question: are FIRs being registered only after public exposure, while routine, preventive policing continues to fail on the ground?
