Goa is fast losing its tag of being a paradise as the rising trend of crime cases, especially against women. Add with it the instances of thefts and burglaries. There is an air of unease in the State’s atmosphere.
This has led to people wondering why the basic policing system in the State is not doing its primary job, mainly to give a sense of security to its citizens and also the confidence that when law and order is breached or crimes are committed, the State and the police would act promptly, so that it evokes a lot of confidence in the people. It would also act as a great deterrent against future incidents.
But that is surely not happening. As we see in Goa, there are statistics that show an alarming trend. From 2022 to 2023, about 114 murders were committed. The crime records which will show how the total number of crimes are going up.
If we even give a cursory glance at newspaper reports, we will find about incidents like gold thefts committed by minors in Mapusa. The people have actually gone out and now sought direct action as theft cases are increasing in North Goa.
Then you have one history-sheeter committing a crime and going away. Then there was a case of a Delhi man, who was stabbed to death for resisting a robbery on a beach in Goa. Then of course this whole issue of tenant verification has come in because the influx of migrants has also supposedly led to a large number of theft and robbery cases.
Fingers are being pointed towards the alleged laxity in the functioning of the police force. In fact, Leader of Opposition in the Goa Assembly, Yuri Alemao expressed concern over the public’s eroding trust in the law and order machinery.
Alemao claimed crime against women in Goa has risen steadily over the years, from 238 in 2020 to 259 in 2021, 285 in 2022, 296 in 2023, and 154 from January to mid-July this year, countering Chief Minister Pramod Sawant who informed the House about police achieving a 98 per cent detection rate in crimes against women and children this year.
Citing data, the opposition leader said 1,230 cases of rape, molestation, and kidnapping were registered over the last five years, with only six resulting in convictions. 145 cases of murder were registered from 2020 to 2024.
If we look at the official data which is released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), under the aegis of Union Home Ministry, we can see that Goa witnessed a fluctuation in Indian Penal Code (IPC) cases from 2020-2022.
In 2020, the State registered 3,393 cases, which declined to 2,099 in 2021, only to see a subsequent increase to 2,711 in 2022. The rate of cognizable crimes was 172.8, with a charge-sheeting rate of 75.9%.
A concerning trend emerged in crimes committed by foreigners, with the number of cases reaching 67 in 2022, surpassing offences against foreign nationals. Crimes ranged from kidnapping, cheating, rape, forgery, to overstaying and drug-related offences. The conviction rate in criminal cases for 2022 was 25.7%, with 365 cases resulting in convictions, 744 in acquittals, and a pendency percentage of 90.3.
Crimes against women showed a rise, with 268 IPC offences reported in 2022. Sexual crimes included 73 rape cases, 90 cases of outraging modesty, 30 cases of insult to modesty, and 60 cases of kidnapping and abduction. The overall crimes against women increased from 219 in 2020 to 273 in 2022.
Is the nature of crimes and criminals changing or is it that policing is being done in a manner which is so different from what was done earlier? Is the police unable to catch up with new trends in crime or are they simply not doing their work because their interests have shifted to other things like bandobast duty for VIP movements, allegedly helping politicians in land deals and so on and so forth.
So these are things that we need to look at. Secondly, we also need to look at whether the police are doing the basic criminal investigations by using technology well and simply doing their job properly, along with issues like staffing and other things.
Speaking on the change in crime trends, especially related to thefts and crimes against women, Caroline Collaco, Criminal Lawyer, said, “The nature of crime has changed. We never saw so many thefts earlier. I do not know the reasons why they are happening. Perhaps because a lot of houses are closed or they think that Goa is this big paradise, where there is a lot of prosperity. Number of thefts of course have increased. Murders were rare earlier. There are couples who come here and suddenly are found dead on the beach in very suspicious circumstances.”
“I have been battling these issues. But now there is this whole issue of cybercrimes, like pornographic videos getting circulated on mobile phones. Now you have new sections of the law which talk about cyber stalking. This shows how the nature of crime has changed and therefore these are new kinds of things that one is seeing. Therefore, even the laws had to change to have this kind of electronic data as evidence, which our police are not equipped to handle,” Collaco said.
She said that even if we look at the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), or the older laws like the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), Indian Penal Code IPC and the Indian Evidence Act, the large focus is on use of electronic data so that means even courts have to be so effective that there is no need for the witness to come to court.
“Leave aside the police. Are our courts equipped to deal with such situations? They aren’t. There is only one cyber cell at Ribander. Actually, every police station should have at least one police officer equipped in handling cybercrime. The department can’t transfer them frequently. This disrupts the continuity of an investigation,” she said.
Shashank Narvekar, Advocate said that before we charge the police with ineffectiveness, we have to also look at the nature of the job of a policeman and their work conditions. The Supreme Court, having established so many commissions, the most famous being the Julio Ribeiro Commission in looking into police reforms, identified so many issues that needed a revamping.
“As far as policing is concerned, it is concerning that we have an abysmal conviction rate. Goa for that matter has got one of the lowest rates of convictions, something like 19%. This is one of the reasons for the rising crime rate, because the criminal knows he can get away with it. It was mentioned that the upgrading of our criminal jurisprudence (criminal laws) has happened after more than 100 years. The laws which were established by the colonial masters, took us more than 100 years to revamp,” Adv Narvekar said.
There will be teething problems, like our courts and police not equipped to handle electronic evidence that are there in the new Acts. But at some point, it has to come because the nature of the crimes have changed.
“The investigation techniques have changed. There are so many loopholes that lawyers have been exploiting over a period of time. That's why you have that low rate of conviction. This upgrade was required. So it’s a welcome step. It will take some time for the system to catch up, but it has to start from somewhere and it’s not too late. Now that we have new laws, hopefully things will be better,” he said.
Auda Viegas, Chairperson, Bailancho Ekvott, has dealt with the police a lot and has fought for many victims all over the place and in the process, has faced difficulties in dealing with the system.
When asked whether the basic system of policing changed over the years and why it takes so much effort to simply get FIR registered or investigations pursued, Viegas said, “I’ve seen for 30 years, the changes have been very slow. There’s no deterrent in the first place. So crime will go on. Besides, the methods of criminal investigation should change. We should modernise our methods. That’s not happening.”
“You see, on one side we want to deal with crime, on the other side we use the cops for every odd thing like standing on the roads for bandobast. They have to leave everything and run somewhere else. So every type of responsibility given is a task the policeman has to perform. Therefore he’s also not able to concentrate on his core duty,” she said.
“Secondly, before a complaint is registered, the cop on duty has to check with his superior. That also delays the whole thing. So now, we have very good laws. BNS is a very good law. Lot of provisions that were there in the CrPC have been changed. But simultaneously, the police also have to be oriented with the changes,” Viegas said.
She however refrained from completely blaming them.
“You can’t blame them. The living conditions are bad. Sometimes they have to be on duty for 48 hours at a stretch. They hardly have any emotional or family life. Yet, they are told to do so many things together. So, I think the government has to think of changing the system of operating these policemen. Besides, we have a shortage of women police staff. When it’s a case of a child or a woman, we need a lady police officer to handle the case. But that is not happening,” she said.
She also insisted upon proper utilisation of technology, especially for recording statements of the victims living faraway.
“Now, a person has moved on after the crime. You have to deal with that victim. Now to deal with the victim, are you going to call them back from Assam or some other place? So a videography facility has to be set up. The system has to be in place, along with the new laws during investigation. Only then, we can hope to see the desired results,” the Chairperson of Bailancho Ekvott said.
While these are very valid points, what remains constant in all this is that the charge that the police do not seem to be sensitive enough to tackle or take up the cases of the common man and pursue it to its logical conclusion.
It’s becoming very difficult for somebody who doesn’t have “contacts” of any sort in Goa. Though Goa is blessed with almost everybody knowing each other, even that doesn’t work sometimes. It becomes very difficult for any victim to get justice.
Whether it is a robbery or a theft or a domestic violence or something bigger than that, it is extremely difficult because it’s just not taken up. Even filing an FIR has become a big ordeal and then of course this whole elephant in the room is politicisation from the time whether to register the FIR to pursue the case or not. All this is a result of external factors which become so important.
Sharing his thoughts on this, Advocate Stanley Rodrigues, a Criminal Lawyer, said, “As far as the aspect of petty crimes like chain snatching and small robberies is concerned, these stem from increase in family expenditure. Due to the rising expenses, people are not able to support their families. There is no employment for them. These are the reasons why initially they take these small steps. Eventually that person who is committing the crime, dares to commit bigger crimes.”
“Now the issue is twofold. One is the need for soft skills training, not only in the police department but also across all government departments. The staff members of these departments who are directly interacting with the common people, must know how to behave with somebody when he or she comes to the office,” Adv Rodrigues said.
“If you go to any Mamlatdar or Deputy Collector’s office, the attitude is not like that of a public servant. It’s the same in the case with the police. The police are also understaffed. A lot of them are deployed at different places from traffic checkpoints to tenant verification. Everything is pushed on them,” he said.
“There's nothing stopping the administration from increasing the workforce right. From what we've seen in the last few years, there are allegations about fixing to get plum posts also. So, the new recruits are looking at it as a lucrative job. But I don’t think that they’re looking at it as an opportunity to serve the public,” the criminal lawyer said.
According to Adv Rodrigues, in a lot of foreign countries, we see that the job of a policeman or a Traffic Sentinel is treated with respect and dignity. Here it is the opposite. They have a huge array of duties, which are put on them. They are expected them to do tenant verification and at the same time they are expected to investigate an extremely complicated murder case.
“There was this proposal, part of police reforms, that every police station should have two teams, one doing investigation and the other maintaining law and order. I think that is an aspect that is really needed. For example, when the question of razing some illegal structure is concerned, the municipality sends a letter to the police to keep a watch on the illegal structure. Now, what are they supposed to look after?” he asked.
Regarding petty crimes, a lot of times police don’t like to register the FIR because the process becomes very lengthy. They have to investigate, file a chargesheet, produce the accused and witnesses to the court…by the time the entire case concludes four to five years are gone. Even the Investigating Officer gets transferred.
“So if it is going to be an ordeal for the IO and the people who are involved in the case, then it becomes a futile exercise. For a petty crime of let’s say snatching of a chain costing around Rs 80,000 to 90,000, the State is spending much more on the entire process and the burden is always on the officers involved,” he said.
The process to get justice has to be shortened. It has to be quick. There has to be some quick results shown. So, just introducing a new set of laws won’t suffice. On an average, it takes nearly four to five years for a criminal case to come to its logical conclusion. This has to be cut down to about one-and-a-half years. Only then will things come under control.
Very often people say that the law is a member of one species of the animal kingdom and when they say that, one should reflect on that and figure out that law is not necessarily an animal. The people who are elected or people who are supposed to govern are paid salaries from the taxpayers’ money to implement and protect the law and give justice.
At the end of the day, they need to behave like sensitive committed human beings and professionals and I think that is where the big gap between crime and punishment lies and that is a huge abyss, which is getting bigger and bigger.
The issue is that firstly it no longer seems to be a deterrent. There may be professional people, with good intentions. But completely consumed by the other forces of politics or it could just simply be that there is not enough effort being put into keeping up with the changing times, in terms of adapting technology and using it for policing and so on and so forth. Of course infrastructure issues are always there. Many police stations don't have telephones, internet connections are bad and they don’t have vehicles to move.
So the issues are multifarious. Everybody is not a black sheep, but the point remains here is that at the end of the day, there needs to be an absolutely diehard political will to have a better system in place and this is where we need to focus.
Because even our optimism with regard to the new laws that are coming in, they are maybe very well placed, but we just hope that we don’t get into an era of despondency after about five years, when the political will to implement and embrace efficiency vanishes.