An offending trend

According to news reports appearing in a section of the press here, a Bollywood actress who also doubled up as an escort reportedly beat up a former BJP minister from Madhya Pradesh with a shoe in a hotel at Goa for being paid less than the amount agreed upon for the escort services provided.

Such incidents, whenever they happen in Goa, are known to create a sensation of sorts. But what is shocking is the fact that the State is adding stars to its name for being home to such activities which are morally incorrect and against the diktats of a civilized society.

It is however not the first time that the complicity of legislators from other states in sleazy affairs in this coastal paradise has made waves.

The midnight sweep by the police some years back on a city hotel resulting in the busting of an alleged sex racket garnered headlines in the local press and media.

However, the arrest of six persons, including a Samajwadi Party MLA of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, from the hotel at Campal, compels one to look at the fiasco from a different perspective.

None of the arrested males were from Goa, nor were the ‘rescued’ women distantly of local origin. Hailing from different parts of the country, the six women were hired - once again by an outsider - for dancing in a ‘Mujra’ organized at Goa. This is indeed an alarming situation!

His credentials as a long time legislator notwithstanding, that the 55-year old from the Hindi-belt had to come all the way to Goa to enjoy a performance that was never a part of the state’s cultural tradition is in itself quite a mystery.

Bawdy dances, with belles gyrating to vulgar music, have never found favour as a source of entertainment by any standards here in Goa. Though the disco culture has been pervasive in the youth-zone, the suave and elegance of traditional dances to suit the occasion has been a part of Goan culture for ages now, and without any compromises called for at that.

Yet, how often do we hear of ‘entertainers’ being flown down to regale an audience that does not comprise a single Goan in the audience! However, some grand functions and celebrations held at the starred-hotels where such arrangements become a savvy part of the event management could be exceptions.

So, it is not the entertainment as much as the venue of the amusements that inspires the attendees!

The very fact that the Goan shores are being selected for staging immoral acts is proof enough that the government hasn’t done enough to dispel notions of the state being a salacious place where drugs and sex spruce up the proceedings.

In spite of the rigid legal strictures, it is all the more embarrassing to have locals leasing out their premises to outsiders without verifying their antecedents. Not to say that they are harbouring criminals, but the fondness shown by guests from outside the state to host parties here sometimes take on an element of lewdness. It couldn’t get more scandalizing!

With allegations of prostitution being carried out in the premises; it has often been observed during the raids conducted by investigating agencies that the site is presumably leased out and the owner is never in the know and is apparently blind to the happenings in his property. Or is maintaining a thoughtful silence on the surreptitious activities beneficial to the landlord!

Down the ages, prostitution as the world’s oldest profession has flourished in one form or the other. For Goa though, it has been the ‘assault’ from across the borders that has given a new identity to the ‘business of commercial sex’.

Initially it was the scare of the out-of-job dance-bar girls from Mumbai who would be procured by sleazy operators to ply their trade here. Then there were suggestions of the outrageous ‘escort service’ taking firm roots in Goa.

The massage parlours had by then given enough indications of seedy dealings within their premises and subsequent police raids proved beyond doubt the insinuations of the locals.

And now Goa, if reports doing the rounds some time back are to be believed, is home to dance-bars as well! How ironic that the state is being kept well-tuned to the recent drifts in the sex market without the complicity of the locals!

That prostitution rackets thrive behind a façade of legality in Goa has never been in doubt; it has been the innovations that have stumped the authorities!

An influx of tourists of varied origin has a lot to do with this. Along with the cream de la crème, we have a lot of filth accumulating on our shores too.

Undeniably our highly acclaimed tourism has put Goa on the global map of ‘most-favoured’ travel destinations, but reports hinting at the proliferation of drug-mafias and a series of undetected sex-crimes along its coastal belt have maligned the fair name of the state.

Now with the current practice of people from far-flung places in the country zeroing in on Goa as the hot-spot of immoral trends, wouldn’t similar ‘sexcapades’ be a regular feature in the itinerary of lascivious tourists?

But having said that, is there a need to sensationalize such news purely for the sleaziness of the whole issue!

A week or so back, the arrest of an active member of notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang in one of the offshore casinos here in connection with a robbery case registered against him at his native place received extensive coverage in local papers.

The press and media needs to be a bit more selective while reporting news.