Father refuses to take home raped minor

Father refuses to take home raped minor
Preetu Nair , TNN

PANAJI: The father of a minor girl who was raped by a police constable and two of his friends for about three months has refused to take his
daughter back home from Apna Ghar stating he feared for her life.

Speaking to TOI, the minor’s father said that he had received a phone call from the government-run home for children in need of care and shelter on Saturday asking him to take his minor daughter back.

“They said she keeps fighting with everyone. But I am worried about my daughter’s safety and life as there is no one at home and the accused are out on bail,” said the father. Claiming that the accused “roam around the vicinity of our house till late night and have even threatened me”, the father said, “I will meet my daughter on Sunday but I won’t bring her home as I can’t ensure her safety. She is safer at the government home.”

The minor was allegedly raped by a 23-year-old police constable attached to the Indian Reserve Battalion and two of his friends. They were arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting the girl for over three months.

The incident came to light recently when the girl developed abdominal pain and was taken to a private doctor in Marcel, who referred her to the Goa Medical College and hospital, Bambolim, where it was found that she was pregnant. The girl underwent an abortion and was admitted to Apna Ghar. She was subsequently referred to the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour, Bambolim, for almost two weeks for “violent behaviour”.


March 15, The Times of India, Goa edition

Minors in love go missing

Minors in love go missing
Preetu Nair, TNN

PANAJI: In December 2008, six persons were reported missing in the capital city. Of these, three were minor girls and police investigations
revealed they had eloped with their respective lovers.

The Panaji police traced two of them and lodged cases of kidnapping against the boyfriends for wrongful confinement of the minors.

In a state where 780 people went missing in 2008, and where on an average over 65 missing complaints were lodged in police stations across the state every month, a third of those missing were youth.

Data available with the Goa police from 2005 to October 2008 shows that more girls than boys (below 18 years) are reported missing.

Arun Pandey of Arz, an NGO said, "A majority of the minors run away due to a conflict in the family or a love affair objected to by family members."

The police confirm this. "The moment a minor girl goes missing, we try to find out if she was 'friendly' with any male. In a majority of cases, we found that the girl was friendly and around the same time when the girl had gone missing, her friend also went missing. Our efforts are then to trace either of them. Once the girl is traced, a majority of parents insist on registering a case of kidnapping, while some try to hush up the matter," said SP (South) Allen D'Sa.

Between 2005 and October 2008, data for which is available with the police, about 500 minor girls went missing. Of these 414 were traced and in a majority of the cases it was established that they had eloped with their boyfriends, admit police sources.

16 Jan 2009, The Times of India, Goa edition