In yet another incident that raises questions about the safety of women in India, a woman was reportedly gangraped in front of her boyfriend on a beach in Goa's south district. The incident is said to have taken place at the Sernabhatim beach Thursday, May 24, night.
A senior official spoke of the incident and said that the three men bumped into the couple and got into a scuffle. "They stripped the couple, clicked their photographs and demanded money," he told the Press Trust of India.
The three men, who are yet to be identified and arrested, then gangraped the 20-year-old woman in front of her boyfriend and fled. The woman has now been sent for a medical examination and an investigation into the case is on.
South Goa Superintendent of Police Arvind Gawas also told the agency that several suspects have been questioned, but considering the culprits haven't been identified, no arrests have been made yet.
The incident comes days after the Goa Police arrested three security guards from the same area for raping a minor. The six-year-old girl, daughter of a construction worker in Canacona village, was reportedly raped by the three men on multiple occasions over the last four months.
"Manoj Kumar, 20, of Madhya Pradesh, Jaidip Ree, 24, and Ravi Ree, 25, from Assam, who worked as security guards at the construction site where the victim's father was employed, have been arrested," IANS had quoted Rajendra Prabhudessai, police inspector-in-charge of the Canacona police station, as saying.
The guards reportedly used to lure the little one with sweets. They were booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Goa is a much-sought-after tourist destination in the country and sees over 75 lakh tourists every year. Of these, about 8 lakh are from foreign countries. In 2017, over 77 lakh people visited the state, but with instances like these regularly making headlines, the much-loved destination runs the risk of losing its charm and tourists might just prefer to stay away from the coastal state.
