Goan authorities clean up its police act

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

Stuart William Kanauras and Clarie Blatchfard were having a nice, peaceful holiday in Goa.

They drank in the quite ambience of the city, moved around, took in the beautiful churches of Old Goa, and had a whale of time on its silver-sanded beaches.

It was while they were on the beaches -- on Arambol beach in Pernem, to be precise -- that things started taking a turn which they didn't quite like.

Sub Inspector Uday Parab decided the British couple were fair game -- at least, fair enough for him to extort money. So up he went to them, with two constables in tow, and started the usual double-talk which cops employ when they want a bribe or two.

The Britishers refused to play the game -- or maybe, it was because they didn't quite know the rules. Anyway, Parab had to implicate them in a case of illegally possessing narcotics before the couple thought of shelling out money.

In the end, think they did -- and Parab and gang were richer by $ 700.

Now all would have been well, if the cop had stopped the game there. But no, he wanted more -- and so back he went to the couple a second time. With a demand for $ 800. The good officer even confiscated the couple's passports as a sort of surety.

But Kanauras and Blatchfard had had enough. This was too much; this needed to be sorted out, they decided. So they rushed to Bombay and filed a complaint with the British deputy high commission.

The British consular staff, immediately, took up the matter with the Goan officials -- and Parab and his foot-cops suddenly found themselves out of their jobs.

The aforementioned harassment, it appears, will be the last of such incidents. Or so Goan authorities assure.

Responding to the numerous complaints of similar incidents in the state, the Goan police have finally decided to clean up its act. Hereafter, authorities promise, swift and harsh punishments will be meted out for such harassment. In fact, Inspector General of Police P S R Brar has decided to give personal hearing to all accused in drug cases.

Incidents of police officers harassing tourists by forcibly putting dope into their pockets and extorting money have been taking place along the coastline for a long time now. The Baga-Calangute-Candolim belt in North Goa have become so notorious that foreign tourists generally shy away from it.

Though over 80 per cent of the junkies in Goa are believed to be foreigners, very few arrests have been registered by the police. Statistics since November 1995 show that of the 52 drug cases registered, only 10 are against foreigners!