Goa- Age proof for entry into night clubs soon

Age proof for entry into night clubs soon
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: Minors may not be able to walk into a night club or discotheque in Goa, as the government is considering asking the club authorities to demand “valid age proof identity” from clients before granting them entry.
On October 30, 2008, SP (north) Bosco George in a letter to the North Goa district magistrate wrote, “Taking into consideration the recent physical assault on a minor German girl, it will be feasible to restrict the entry of minor children into discotheques and dancing floors unless a valid age proof identity is given.”
The SP has requested the magistrate to issue instructions in this respect to discotheques and dance floor owners. North Goa district magistrate and collector Mihir Vardhan said, “We are working on this and have to work out the modalities of implementing it.”
However, club owners are not impressed. Steve D’Souza of Hill Top, a night club at Anjuna said, “It’s impossible to check on people who walk in a group. More than 400 people come with friends to enjoy and dance and it would be impossible to check everyone’s age proof.”
D’Souza added, “However, if someone looks like a minor, then we definitely ask for their age proof and if they fail to produce the same, we don’t grant them entry.”
In the meanwhile, the police are issuing notices to organizers under section 149 of CrPC to prevent cognizable offenses which violate the Goa children’s act. Under section 8 (1) of the act, children should be assured a safe environment, “an environment in which he or she is not abused in anyway and his or her development will be nurtured”.
SP George said, “There are photographs of minors like the German girl who enter entertainment places where alcohol is easily available, and there is a need to curb it.”
The minor German girl, who was allegedly raped by education minister Atanasio Monserrate’s son Rohit and allegedly sexually abused by PWD minister Churchill Alemao’s nephew Warren Alemao, was a frequent visitor to night clubs and discotheques in the coastal belt. She had even participated in a fashion show in one of the clubs in North Goa, said police sources.

November 7, 2008, The Times of India, Goa edition