Parents, society and police need to work together to prevent it
It is distressing to note that kidnapping of female children has shown an increasing trend in Goa. According to official data, four police stations in Salcete taluka of South Goa alone have recorded eight such cases from January 1 to December 21 this year. However, six cases have been solved and persons involved in kidnapping have been arrested; two cases are pending and no arrests have been made so far. Most of the kidnapped girls were school going and said to have fallen to temptations and false promises of the kidnappers. The Maina Curtorim police station tops the list with three cases of kidnapping of minor girls. However, two of the cases have been solved, while one is pending. The two cases booked at the Margao police station have been solved, while of the two cases registered at the Fatorda police station, one has been solved. The only case registered at the Cuncolim police station has also been cracked. South Goa had recorded 18 kidnappings in the first nine months of the year 2019, of which 14 were detected.
According to police, in most kidnapping cases the victims voluntarily accompany their boyfriends, not knowing that it was a crime to run away and enter into a relationship as long as they are minors. There have been cases of some on the verge of attaining adulthood running away and hiding in the neighbouring states or elsewhere and entering into wedlock. However, there have also been cases of girls below 15 years of age being kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Though often the “elopement” of the young “couples” is with the consent of the minor, it is a crime before law and hence a case has to be registered. However, it is a problem police officials cannot solve alone. They come into the picture only when the matter is brought to their notice by parents or some other party. On the whole it is a complex issue in which the society’s changing values conflict with the traditional values. Children are growing up faster in the current times. The exposure of the younger generations to social media is very deep.
Goa is otherwise considered to be one of the safest states in the country for women to live. However, the rising cases of kidnapping of female children and other crimes against women in recent years should make parents, the society and the police to work hard towards providing safety to women. According to the data from the National Crime Records Bureau based on the feedback provided by Goa police, more than 200 women have gone missing in the state each year since 2016. While 235 women were missing in the year 2016, their number went up to 274 in 2017. The number came down to 234 in the year 2018. There is no data available with regard to women missing in the year 2019 as also how many of these cases were detected. According to non-government organisations working for the welfare of women, in several cases domestic violence was the main cause for women to run away from their homes. There are also cases of vulnerable women being kidnapped and forced into prostitution in other parts of the country.
Gullible and unsuspecting young women, minor girls and women from poor and broken families are often targeted by traffickers through touts or casual informers for kidnapping. In some cases, a gang may not be involved, and the woman could be raped and abandoned. Such women never return to their family. The parents, the society and the police need to join hands to defeat the devious means of women traffickers. The parents should not hesitate to report the matter to the police if they find their female children getting involved with unscrupulous elements. The police should be vigilant and use their networks to keep collecting information on the activities of men involved in deceiving women with false promises and dreams. Parents need to be vigilant about the use of mobiles and social media by their minor children in order to guide them and prevent them from falling prey to the devious ideas of those who know how to exploit impressionable minds to their advantage.