11 tourists arrested for molesting two minors in Goa

The siblings — 17-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister — were harassed by a group of tourists from Pune.

The Goa Police on Wednesday arrested 11 tourists, who had come to the coastal state from Pune in neighbouring Maharashtra, for allegedly assaulting and molesting two minor siblings at a beach near here.

The siblings -- 17-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister -- were sitting in a shack on Tuesday on the Baga beach, located in North Goa district, while their parents were having food nearby.

At that time, a group of 11 visitors from Pune started clicking pictures of the girl, Calangute police station’s Jivba Dalvi said, adding that this amounts to outraging her modesty.

“When the boy objected to the group taking photos of his sister, they allegedly slapped and beat him,” he said, quoting a complaint filed by the victims’ parents.

The Calangute police subsequently nabbed all the accused before they could leave the state, he said.

Two of the 11 accused were juveniles, aged 15, and they were sent to a state-run protection home, Dalvi said.

“During the course of investigation, the police recorded statements of the minor siblings in the presence of members of an NGO working for child rights,” he said.

“The mobile phone used to click pictures of the girl was confiscated and will be sent to a forensic laboratory for analysis,” he said.

Based on a complaint, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) and arrested the visitors, he said.

Offences were registered against all the accused under IPC sections 354 (molestation), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) and 323 (causing hurt), and relevant provisions of the Goa Children’s Act, he added.