CALANGUTE

Calangute Police have arrested nine persons all native of Pune, Maharashtra, for allegedly rioting, assaulting a minor boy after outraging modesty of his minor sister.

The siblings, a 17-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister, were sitting yesterday in a shack on the Baga beach, 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 PI 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 accusedbefore they could leave the state, Dalvi said. Two of the 11 accused were juveniles, aged 15, and they were sent to a state-run protection home, PI 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 was  sent to a forensic laboratory for analysis,” PI Dalvi informed.

Based on a complaint, the police registered an FIR and arrested the accused tourists, 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.