What happened on that fateful night a week ago on Benaulim beach when two young girls were gang-raped by four youths after posing as policemen is both a heinous crime and a blot on the Goa government’s poor security arrangements and inability to safeguard the weaker sex from rapacious wolves of prey. Goa being a favourite tourist destination where thousands of tourists flock to our beaches, it is the duty of the government to maintain and ensure round-the- clock safety of these tourist places as well as the tourists. We can’t expect parents to stop their daughters from enjoying themselves by keeping them caged up at home, besides warning them to shun late-night partying. We have rape taking place in Goa even during the day. Goa’s image as a safe tourist destination has already been tarnished with the number of rape cases on the rise in recent times. We cannot continue acting like the proverbial ostrich, thinking that all is well. It is time for the Goa govt to act now to redeem its sagging morale and reputation. Times have changed, and Goa is not the same as it was a few decades ago when people slept in their homes, with doors and windows open.The irony of it all is that our ‘betis’ were safer then than today.
